Remnants of a Demon
by Natsuflado69
Summary: "In a world of heroes and monsters...you'd think it would be easy who to identify with. But some days, I find it hard to distinguish myself from either of the two. I can feel the darkness grow, but I won't let it beat me. For them...I'll do anything as long as it means I can stand by their side. The only question is...should I become a hero to do it...or a monster?"
1. Chapter 1

**HELLO! I'm coming at ya with a whole new crossover everybody! …I know, I really need to stop, but with RWBY volume 4 already coming out and with my newfound writing ability growing…I just have to write this crossover! I'm so pumped to write this story!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or Fairy Tail. They each belong to their respective owners.**

 _ **Outskirts of Patch**_

A calm wind blew through the dark woods that surrounded a little cottage. This little cottage, while still strong enough to endure many hardships from various Grimm, was home to just one man. Now this one man was no ordinary man. No, he was quite the unique man. One who prided himself on being exceptional…but at the same time hating himself for it. It was quite the conundrum the man had to often face, but he got through it like he did everything else. But like every man, or woman, this man had his secrets…a secret so vile…so disgusting…that if uttered it would cause him to spiral into a rage that could rock the very heavens themselves!

"Oh for fuck's sakes! I'm out of peanut butter?! Come on! Now how am I supposed to make my special peanut butter cookies?!" The man yelled from inside his little cottage.

…yes, this man, this "manly man", did indeed bake.

Inside the cottage, a man with a distinct hue of hair, salmon, slammed his hands against the counter inside his kitchen, taking careful measure not to destroy it like the last one. His current clothing consisted of a black and white scarf tied to his forehead, a plain black t-shirt, a pair of white trousers, and sandals. "Ugh…all I'm gonna here is complaining from _her_ now. 'Natsu, you didn't put peanut butter in here! You always put peanut butter in here!' Geez…ah well. She'll just have to deal with it." Natsu said with a slight air of indifference. Looking at his clock near his television stand, Natsu slightly jumped up in the air. "Ah crap! I'm gonna be later for work!" He yelled, quickly untying the apron from his body and grabbed the other cookies he had finished. Turning off the oven and taking out the rest, Natsu quickly wrapped the cookies in foil, threw it in his knapsack, and headed out the door. It was an early morning, and there was still plenty of light out to shine through the various trees; dead, dying, and still quite vibrant. Natsu took a breath of fresh air as he began walking through the woods. Whistling a show tune he had heard on the radio a couple days prior, although he couldn't remember the particular name of the song, but decided he would just ask _her w_ hen he saw _her._

 _ **Crunch**_

A sudden noise rang out through the woods, prompting Natsu to take a sigh of annoyance. Turning around, he could see several Beowolves walking towards him. These ones were still novices and hadn't found the strength to put themselves upwards on their hind legs. "Alright, listen, we've done this a million times now. Or what at least seems like it and I'm getting pretty tired of it….like _**really tired of it!**_ " Natsu growled, his eyes suddenly changing from a normal white to a darker black and red. One of the Beowolves growled at seeing his eyes change color, crawling closer to him. Damn…what the hell was he thinking? Of course, his demonic aura would just incite these monsters. Truth be told though, he wouldn't mind giving into his demonic urges and just pummel these creatures into mist like so many times before. Ever since he came here, these black and red creatures had been obsessed with him. Consistently stalking at him at every chance he got…like they were obsessed. _'Guess it makes sense why they would be….a demon doesn't necessarily have happy thoughts roamin' around in his head. Especially me…'_

Sighing, Natsu forced his eyes back to their normal color and ignited his hands to try to ward off the beasts before they attacked, but it only angered them more. Seeing he had no choice, Natsu calmly unraveled his knapsack from his body and placed it on the ground. Natsu quickly got into a battle stance afterwards and rubbed his scarf for good luck. "You guys are gonna seriously regret this!" The dragon slayer roared, charging straight towards the Grimm. The lead Beowolf leapt forward, in the hopes of ripping open the man's jugular, but was blocked by Natsu's forearm, effectively burning its mouth. The Beowolf whined from the pain and was caught guard when it received a flaming fist straight through its stomach. The Grimm moaned as it disintegrated, forcing it's brethren to roar in despair at seeing its comrade die. "Hey, I said you would all regret this! **Fire Dragon's Roar!** " Natsu bellowed, spewing red-hot flames onto the rest of the Beowolves, causing most of them to retreat and the rest to disintegrate. Seeing the rest of his enemies run away, Natsu's flames ceased to exist and the dragon slayer sighed in relief. Adrenaline pumping through his veins, Natsu smiled as he felt the thrill of battle; a feeling that he hadn't felt in years. Remembering all those battle he had faced…caused his smile to fade and to remember where he really was…

Natsu heaved another sigh, however, this one of a different kind of tiredness. One of regret, remorse, and one he constantly sought to atone for. Grabbing his knapsack, Natsu slowly walked towards his workplace, this time without any semblance of enjoyment.

He had so much to atone for…

 _ **From Dust till Dawn**_

Standing outside his place of work, Natsu sighed again and willed his face into a grin before stepping inside. _'Today's a new day…let's take it one day at a time.'_ The door swung open as he walked inside, seeing numerous rows of stock that he himself had previously slaved over the day before. Hearing a grunt to his right, he saw his boss, an elderly man with the only hair he had growing from the back. "Hey, boss, I know I'm late, but there was this pack of Beowolves that surrounded me and-" He was interrupted by a twirling of his boss's index finger, to which he had translated to a "What's new?" sort of gesture. "I know I've said that a million times before, but I swear these damn things are freakin' obsessed with me or something!" Natsu yelled.

His boss merely stared at him and gave him a slight shrug. He then pointed to several boxes in the corner of the store, as a way of telling him to get to work. "Fine…but one of these days I'll find out why you don't talk." The fire mage grumbled, walking over to the fridge behind the counter, and placed the cookies in his knapsack on top of it. Natsu then opened the fridge to see if there was any milk inside and saw that there was about half a gallon left and sighed in relief. _'Well at least I'm good on milk. Maybe she'll forgive me then about the lack of peanut butter…'_ Shaking his head, Natsu quickly walked over to the boxes and got to work.

After about a couple hours of stocking and restocking, Natsu leaned on the counter at the front of the store. He then turned to his left to see a disapproving look from his boss, "Oh come on! I've been working nonstop because you always pull that 'my back hurts' crap!" Natsu shouted, getting a look of shock from his boss, which forced him to point at his wrinkles and balding head to emphasize why his back was always hurting. "Hey, man, I knew plenty of old men who could easily lift those tiny boxes over there. It's time you step up and quit complaining, huh?" The salmon-haired man teased. His boss replied to his answer by pulling out his next check and igniting a lighter right under it. "AAAAAAHHHH!" Natsu screamed, jumping forward and grabbed the check. "Are you crazy?! That's my food money! The sole reason why I'm working in this damn place is because I need the cash!" The dragon slayer growled, eliciting a slight chuckle from his employer.

Suddenly, the door immediately swung open and closed. Natsu turned to see who it was, but saw no one by the door. He then turned around to see his employer a shrugging of his shoulders. "Don't worry, if it's who I think it is, then I've got the perfect plan to weed her out." Natsu chuckled, walking over to his cookies and unwrapped them. "It's a shame no one's here to help me eat these cookies…why, if my stomach can't hold all of them, then I guess they'll just have to be…thrown away." He whispered to the "empty" room. A red blur then zoomed in front of him, revealing a cloaked figure who then swung its arms upwards and wobbled them eerily.

"Ooooooooo I am the ghost of Christmas cookies! Do not throw away my precious babies!" An eerie girly voice uttered, waving her arms around.

"Hey, Ruby." Natsu smiled, leaning against the counter.

The figure stopped waving her hands suddenly, but quickly resumed. "I-I have no idea what you are talking about, human! I am a ghost that haunts people who have the evil urge to destroy a precious source of enjoyment to me and everybody else who loves peanut buttery chocolate goodness!"

Natsu rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Yeah…hehe I sort of had to make these cookies without any peanut buttery goodness. My bad…"

"WHAT?! But how can you enjoy a chocolate cookie without any peanut butter to match the sugary goodness of chocolate!" The "ghost" yelled, waving her hands angrily.

"Oh…why you're right. Whatever was I thinking? I'm truly sorry, spirit. Please forgive me!" The dragon slayer said with faux sadness.

The figure immediately remembered what she was pretending to be and resumed the act. "U-Uh that's right! You must pay for your actions…by giving me the cookies!" She lunged for the sugary goodness, but hit the counter instead. The figure looked up to see Natsu holding up the cookies with his hands. "Hey! You know how short I am! Just give it! Give it!" The "spirit" whined, jumping up several times to try to grab the cookies, but failing every time.

"Why, what would a ghost need with cookies anyway? Your ethereal form couldn't possibly digest something solid like a cookie. It's quite a shame…and to think I made these cookies for dear…" Natsu chuckled, seeing the figure pull down her hood.

Dropping her hood, Ruby showed herself to be a young, silver-eyed girl dressed in a black blouse, a black waist cincher with red lacing and a skirt with red trimmings, completed by a red, hooded cloak. "RUBY! It's me, Ruby! Not a ghost! See!" She shouted, poking her hungry stomach. "Now give me the COOKIES!"

Natsu busted out laughing as he put down the cookie plate, finally allowing Ruby to gobble down the sugary goodness in all of its glory. Munching on the cookies, Ruby beamed as she finished all of the delicious little treats and ended her feat with a burp. "Hey, do you have any milk?" Ruby asked, ignoring the scene of social mores that just happened. Not even having the chance to answer, Ruby leapt over the counter and opened the fridge to grab the milk. "Never mind, I got it!" She beamed, opening the carton and chugging it. Natsu's boss could only shake his head at this disgusting show of a lack of social cues the girl had had since he first met her.

"Don't worry, boss. I'll pay for whatever she messes up." Natsu chuckled, eliciting a roll of his employer's eyes while he walked into his office, shutting the door to keep whatever these two numbskulls talked about out of his ears. Ruby finished all the milk in the carton and burped again, throwing the carton in the trash can near the counter. "Wow…you certainly are special." Natsu mumbled.

Ruby chuckled while rubbing her head. "Yeah…you're the only person who can say that without a hint of sarcasm. Or…maybe you did just say it and I didn't pick up on it. You know, I have a really hard time with that. Like…since birth. Yang said she used to always be sarcastic to me when I was a kid, but I never really got what she was really saying. I mean, what is the point of being sarcastic? Why can't you just say what you really mean? It's just so confusing! …you weren't being sarcastic, were you?" Ruby asked, innocence prevalent in her tone.

"No, Ruby, I was not being sarcastic. Now that you're here…wait, why the heck are you here? It's like 11 in the morning. Shouldn't you be in school?" Natsu asked.

Ruby rubbed her head awkwardly, "Well, I sorta…kinda…I mean technically…skipped school." She muttered that last part.

Natsu gasped as he heard that. "RUBY! Why…how could you! Knowledge is the key to salvation! It's the sole reason why we exist as a species and you should be ashamed for ditching school!" 

The hooded girl took a few steps back at hearing the angry tone in her friend's voice. Why would he be so angry? Since the moment they had met, Natsu never really cared if she had ditched school and hung out with him at his work. Yang didn't even care. Sometimes she would ditch too and hang out with them. The only person who really cared was her father…at least, when he found out he did. So, why would Natsu suddenly be angry at her for…oh. "A-Are you being-"

"Sarcastic? Yes, I was." Natsu replied.

"Oh darn it! I should have known that! Ugh…being socially awkward sucks." Ruby bemoaned, lowering her body onto the ground depressingly.

Natsu chucked as he leaned down to pat Ruby on the head. "Hey, don't beat yourself up. Like I've told you a million times, who cares about what other people think? I certainly don't and your sister doesn't either."

"You guys don't get it. I NEED people to like me if I'm going to be a huntress. Otherwise, every time I come to save someone, I'll probably just be booed or something. But…it's not just that…I WANT people to like me. I know I'm not the most normal of people, but…why don't people like me?" Ruby whimpered, lowering her head dejectedly.

Natsu reached for Ruby, but was slightly taken aback by the girl's look of vulnerability. Usually, Ruby would just brush off any rejections or sadness with a sense of ease, but this time was different. Something was off… "H-Hey, Ruby, it's okay. Come on, you're a great girl. Just you wait! Soon enough people are gonna be lining up to be your friend once you become a famous huntress. They're gonna be all like, 'Oh my gosh, it's Ruby Rose! I want to be just like her when I grow up! And then all of my friends will be all like SUPER jealous of me! They'll be all like, "Oh my gosh! You're the next Ruby ROSE! No, I was gonna be the next Ruby Rose! Then, everybody would want to be my friend like her! This isn't fair like-" Natsu stopped when he saw Ruby laughing at his poor excuse for a girl's voice and wiped away the tears that were gathering in her eyes.

"Hahahaha….you do a terrible girl voice." Ruby laughed.

"Pshh…like it's any better than your guy's voice?" Natsu retorted.

"Hey, my guy's voice is like a bajillion times better than your high-pitched girl's voice!" The hooded girl replied back with a pout.

Natsu just waved her off and noticed her headphones. "Oh shoot! Hey, what was that song that we were listening to last week…it was like, 'This is the day we've waited for…' You know that song?"

Ruby scrunched her face in thought as she tried to remember what the two were listening to last week. Until suddenly, a light bulb went off in the store, that for some reason was off, signaling that Ruby had found the answer. "OOOO that was Casey Lee Williams' song! I was just listening to that on the way here! Isn't it just amazing!"

Natsu had been staring at that strange occurrence of the light bulb turning on, but just chalked it up to the crappy electricity. "Yeah! I was just whistling that on my way here too!"

Ruby beamed as she heard her only friend loved the song that she introduced to him. "Totally! She's my number one favorite artist right now. I always listen to her when I polish up Crescent Rose! It gets me super pumped!" She yelled, thrusting her sheathed weapon up in the air. Crescent Rose…her pride and beauty. One of Ruby's sole treasures besides her family, Natsu, and the cloak that resembled her mother's.

Natsu chuckled as he watched this upbeat girl ramble on about how her weapon had improved since the last time they saw each other…which was yesterday. Honestly, this girl was just a blast to be around. Most of the people on this little island were…well…boring to say the least. Not this girl though and certainly not her sister too. Nope, these two were the rare exception on this island, besides himself and all the Grimm that kept popping up, that were of a unique breed. "So, Rubes, what do you wanna do? Since you're now a wanted criminal for ditching…"

"Hey, I am not! It's not my fault school is so boring! If it was just weapons training, weapon building, weapon history, weapon repairs, weapon…hehe I think you kind of get where I'm going with this." Ruby giggled awkwardly.

"Yeah…still obsessed with weapons as always. Ah well, that's what makes you unique, Ruby. Don't ever forget that!" Natsu grinned, affectionately rubbing Ruby's head which causes the girl to flush embarrassingly.

The two continued to converse for what seemed like hours until Natsu looked at the clock to see that it was nearing three. "Uh oh. You better make it back to your school before Yang goes to pick you up. Otherwise-" A loud roaring noise was heard coming down the street, causing Natsu to cover his ears with his index fingers. "Too late."

A loud, black and yellow motorcycle suddenly parked outside the shop. The driver slowly hopped off of the motorcycle and pushed open the door to the shop. The driver was a beautiful blonde teenage girl who was wearing a tan vest with gold piping over a yellow low-cut crop top with a black crest that resembles a burning heart. The vest had puffy cap sleeves with black cuffs. On the sides of the cuffs, there are two small golden buttons. She wears a brown belt with a buckle, a pouch, and a small banner-like object. The same burning heart crest appears on this banner, except golden in color. She wears black shorts under her belt, which resembles a pleated skirt in the back. Over the short shorts but under the belt is a white asymmetrical back skirt. "I knew I'd find you hear! Tut tut Ruby, you know Dad is not gonna like that you cut school today." Yang teased, moving her finger side-to-side.

"Yang! Your ears must have been burning because we were just talking about you. Pretty suspicious if you ask me." The dragon slayer said with squinted eyes while rubbing his chin in thought.

Yang grinned as she shrugged her shoulders. "Of course you were talking about me. I mean, what can I say…I'm just so YANGtastic!" She grinned.

"Hmm…that was too easy." Natsu groaned.

"Man, and I thought I was embarrassing." Ruby mumbled.

"What?! Come on, I was thinking about that one on the way here! That pun is amazing! C'mon, Ruby, wasn't my pun great!" The blonde teen asked her sister.

Ruby looked behind her and looked back at Yang. "I'm sorry…do I know you?"

Natsu busted out laughing as he heard Ruby say that, holding his sides to keep his sides from splitting. Yang's jaw just dropped as she heard her own sister's betrayal of her, "You traitor!"

"I'm sorry, Yang…but that was bad. Really, really bad. Like…Dad's puns bad." Ruby shook her head with a sad smile.

The blonde huntress-in-training stumbled backwards as she heard what her sister said, holding onto the counter to keep herself from falling. "That…was the worst thing you can say to a pun master. To compare my puns with… _his_." Yang drooped down to the floor dejectedly as she thought about her Dad's terrible puns and shivered at the thought at ever being that bad at puns.

Rolling his eyes, Natsu grabbed ahold of Yang's arm and pulled up. "C'mon, Yang, stop being so melodramatic. Your dad has…perfectly acceptable puns…as long as your deaf or ok with pulling off your own ears that is." Natsu muttered.

"See! Even you think so too! Ugh…Dad should really just leave the ouns to the professionals." Yang said, crossing her arms under her ample bosom.

"Since when were you a professional?" Ruby asked, tilting her head.

"Hahahahahahaha! Oh my gosh, Ruby, you're the best!" The fire mage snickered.

"Alright, that's it! You're on your own tonight! I'm out!" Yang growled, turning around to walk out the door until Ruby jumped on her.

"NOOOOO! I hate walking home! I always get lost and have to ask for directions. And I hate talking to people…that I don't know…because sometimes they smell. And not the good kind of smell!" Ruby shouted, causing Natsu to cover her mouth.

"Could you be any louder?! Come on, Ruby, I need this job and if my boss ever utters the words, 'you're fired!' from his mouth, then I'm holding you responsible!" Natsu growled.

"Sorry." Ruby mumbled through his mouth, causing Natsu to take his hands off of her mouth.

"Alright then, Ruby. You can come back with me to the house…BUT, you have to listen to all my PUNtastic…puns!" Yang grinned, eliciting a groan from her little sister. "Oh…is that a no I hear?"

"NO! I mean…please take me with you." Ruby whispered.

Yang's grin broke a bit at hearing those words come out of Ruby's mouth. She never wanted to hear those words…she always would be there for Ruby. Always… "F-Fine. Guess I'll just let this slide this once. 'But never let anybody outside the Family know what you're thinking again.'" She said in an Italian accent.

Natsu clapped his hands together. "Nice! Godfather reference. I like it!"

Yang bowed. "Thank you. I just watched it last night. It was either that or study for Finals…I like to think I made the right decision."

"Ewww studying…I'd choose anything over that." Ruby moaned, sticking her tongue out.

"Yep. Hey, speaking of which, is a future Huntress currently standing in my shop?" Natsu grinned, until his boss poked his head out at hearing Natsu say it was his shop. "Ok, ok, our shop." His boss merely continued to stare at him. "FINE! Your shop! Are you happy, you old kook!" He screamed at him, getting his boss to grin and retreat back to his office. _'Dick…'_

Yang rolled his eyes at her friend's weirdness. Although, that's what sort of drew herself to him so…hey she was sort of attracted to that sense of weirdness. Nothing wrong with that. Her eyes trailed down her friend's toned body, taking careful pleasure to remember every inch of him for her dreams tonight. Nope…nothing wrong with _that_ at all. "Well…YES, I'm going to Beacon!" Yang shouted with glee, jumping up and down.

Natsu beamed as he grabbed ahold of Yang and spun her around, her legs wrapping themselves around his back as they jumped for joy. "Congratulations! Now I don't have to help you study anymore so…yay me too!" Ruby immediately joined the group celebration by hugging Natsu from behind while yelling 'No studying!' at the top of her lungs.

The group huddle broken, Ruby was still jumping for joy. "Awesome! My sister is going to Beacon! Oh man, just a couple more years and I'll get to go! Then, we could be roommates! Oh better yet! Natsu, you should come too! Although, you don't have a weapon, but we could make one together! OH MY GOSH, WE HAVE TO DO THAT!" Ruby screamed, forcing Yang and Natsu to shut her mouth. "Shorry." She mumbled.

Both of them sighed as they let go of her mouth. "Alright, well I head out in a week I think so we gotta plan something. What do you think, Natsu?" Yang smiled, rubbing her fingers across his chest seductively.

Natsu merely shrugged. "Hmm…I don't know. We could get something to eat or whatever. I know a great noodle place. Forgot what it's called, but it'll come to me."

Yang's eye slightly twitched as her advances were once again misinterpreted. Geez…did she have to spell it out for him? _'I like you, you big dolt!'_ Yeah…that could work. Not entirely romantic, but it would definitely get the job done. While this had her plan for a while now…there was always a problem that stuck her adorable little head in every time she got close…

"OOOOOO can I come! PLEASE! I promise I'll be super good! You won't even know I'm there! I promise!" Ruby begged, getting on her hands and knees.

Oh…how Yang wished she could believe that. Honestly, if her little sister had a crush on the boy too, then it wouldn't surprise her. Although, it was strange because Ruby had NEVER shown any interest in any sort of the opposite gender that it honestly worried her. Granted…she could be a lesbian, and there was nothing wrong with that at all. Yang herself was a little bisexual so why judge her sister for liking girls? Granted though, Ruby seemed to show a strange amount of affection for the salmon-haired boy so maybe her crush was there and her constant interference was just her subconscious at work. Shrugging her shoulders, she pushed that question out for another day. "Ok, Ruby, I think it's time we go. Dad is gonna kill us if we don't get in by curfew."

"Curfew? He still has that on you two? It's around 3 in the afternoon!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Yup…our Pops never changes. But we love that about him…while also hating that about him too. Oh well! C'mon, Ruby. Catch ya later, Natsu!" Yang said, walking outside towards her motorcycle.

Ruby was about to walk after her before turning around. "Hey, are you working tonight?"

"…Yes, and thank you for reminding me." Natsu sighed.

"You're welcome!" Ruby smiled, while causing Natsu to facepalm at Ruby's miss at another social cue. "Anyways…I just wanted to know because…I may come back tonight. I mean, even if you weren't here, then I would still come. B-But, I would like it if you were b-because you know…we're cool together." She chuckled to herself, while looking at her feet shyly.

Natsu shook his head in bemusement at this act of cuteness. "Yes, Ruby, I'll be here. Feel free to come whenever you like because…we're cool together." Natsu winked.

Ruby looked up and smiled as she heard that. "Great! I can't wait! See ya later!" She shouted in glee as she sprinted out the door and jumped onto Yang's motorcycle. 'Now ride, Bumblebee!" The cloaked girl screamed as the motorcycle roared to life and proceeded to drive them home.

The dragon slayer smiled as he watched them go and as he saw their figures disappear…dropped it. Sighing, Natsu slowly hobbled over to the boxes that he had to unpack and proceeded to unload everything that was trapped inside of it. Sure, his life wasn't the same as it once was… but hey…he was alive! Yup alive…still. Closing his eyes in pain, Natsu ceased to work and pushed his back against the wall. None of this felt right…something was missing. And he knew what that something was…but he couldn't get it back. No matter how hard he tried, it was gone for good. Even now, he could still hear the droning of his inner demon…whispering to him, but luckily he had learned to contain it, even if it was limited. But still…he missed adventures. He missed having friends to go on those adventures with. The funny thing was though that he could still do that…he had honestly nothing better to do now with his life. But…it always ended the same. No matter how much he wished it could change…and nothing could change that.

… **.OR COULD IT? Well…yes it will, but soon! In the next chapter! …if this gets popular enough. But nonetheless, I give you Remnants of a Demon! I've been wanting to do a Fairy TailxRWBY crossover for quite some time and now…I can! I can't wait to continue this! For this story, I'll be doing somewhat shorter chapters because since RWBY has only four volumes, I don't want to catch up too quickly. BUT, it gives me a chance to have fun with the characters so…WIN-WIN!**

 **Anyways, as for the pairings, I gave some hints, or just outright told you, about some of the feelings some people had for Natsu…or might have. If you want to know the pairing, it's gonna be…A HAREM!**

" **Oh geez, another harem fanfic from you…of course!"**

 **Hey hey, calm down over there. Now, yes I am a harem fanfic writer, but what's wrong with that? What I'm going to strive for in this story is a connective Polyamorous harem. Now, the polyamory will come from not just the girls falling in love with Natsu, but the girls also falling in love with…well the girls. So, it's gonna be like a mix of all the fan-favorite pairings, just with Natsu added in there. Now, the only thing I'm kind of unsure about is whether I should add Pyrrha into the harem. I mean, whomever I pair her up with….is gonna end up with a broken heart. So…yeah, I think I should leave that up to you. I'll make a poll as to who I should add Pyrrha with and hopefully I'll get a definitive answer from the poll!**

 **SO, if you liked this story, then please favorite/follow/and REVIEW!**


	2. Chapter 2

**HELLO AGAIN! I'm back with an all new chapter and I can't wait to hear what you think about it! Also, I'd like to thank the people who favorite, followed, and reviewed! It means a lot to me to hear what others thought of my story!**

 **Disclaimer: In the first chapter.**

 _ **From Dust till Dawn**_

' _Ugh…this was taking forever'_ Natsu thought to himself as he continued stocking dust into their proper tubes. The poor lad had been hard at work ever since Ruby and Yang had left the store a couple of hours ago. Wiping a couple sweat beads from his forehead, Natsu quickly looked around to see his boss was quietly taking his own nap at the front counter. _'Wow…and he calls me lazy. Well, actually gesture that I'm lazy seeing as how the old kook refuses to so much as utter a single letter.'_ Shaking his head in slight annoyance mixed with bemusement, the dragon slayer moved to the back of the store to sit on the few boxes he had left to stock. He raised his head to look at the clock and saw that it was getting late. The clock said it was past 7 o' clock and there was still no sign of Ruby. A sick feeling spread through Natsu as he felt what kind of trouble the poor girl could have run into on the way here. She was so naïve as to what the real world was like…she still believed in fairy tales after all. Natsu quickly shook his head to dispel these negative thoughts and remembered that she too was a Hunteress-in-training and she always carried Crescent Rose around with her wherever she went…even into the bathroom at times.

Suddenly, a slight chime echoed throughout the store, waking up the old man from his nap and saw the little hooded girl had returned to the store. The old man rubbed his eyes as he shook the tiredness from his eyes and went back to manning the cash register before the salmon-haired boy said anything otherwise. Sadly…

"Hey, boss, enjoy the nap?" Natsu asked with a grin. The old man lowered his head in dejection at having being caught red-handed and dejectedly returned to his office. The dragon slayer chuckled as he saw Ruby skipping towards him. "Sup, Rubes, bring anything to eat? Because I'm super starving right now!"

"What?! I thought you would have something to eat! Oh man, I had to rush through dinner just so I could meet you here…even though Dad thinks I'm asleep in my room right now." Ruby whispered.

"Ruby, you don't have to whisper you know. Your dad isn't here…" The dragon slayer deadpanned.

The hooded girl quickly looked all around her, as if she was on the lookout for any one suspicious in the area. She could have sworn she saw some strange looking business men on her way towards the store, but had just ignored it. After all, her dad would never hire business men to spy on her…or would he? Ruby widened her eyes as she held on to Natsu in terror. "Don't let the evil business men take me, Natsu! They'll just try to sell me cheap merchandise that I'll never use…even though I probably really want it!" She yelled, shaking the poor lad back and forth.

After the shaking ceased, Natsu slowly raised his fist and lightly bonked Ruby on the head, eliciting a small murmur of pain from her. "Never…do that…again." Natsu muttered, his motion sickness riling up.

"Ow….ok sorry, you big meanie." Ruby muttered, hoping that he wouldn't hear that last part. He did, but he let it slide. Rolling his eyes, Natsu grabbed a magazine from the rack beside them and handed it to her. The hooded girl grabbed the magazine and looked at the title and widened her eyes in childish glee. "OH MY GOSH! The new Lethal Weapons magazine! Ooooooo I've wanted to subscribe to them forever, but Dad never lets me do it! He says that a girl like me shouldn't be focusing on things like weapons and focus on things like…dolls and makeup and other girl things…blegh." The silver-eyed girl gagged, poking her finger in front of her open mouth in a disgusted fashion. Natsu chuckled as he watched friend put on her headphones and continue shuffling trough the numerous weapons that lie inside of the pages. Sure, her dad was right, and a normal girl shouldn't have a very clear obsession with weapons designed to kill or maim…but Ruby was no normal girl. And Natsu loved her for that. After all, Natsu was no normal individual himself so a kindred spirit was definitely a plus in the world.

Leaving Ruby to her obsession, he rubbed her head affectionately, to which she lightly slapped his hand away (even though she secretly loved when he did that) and went on to man to the cash register before his boss did his own version of "yelling at him." On his trek to the register, several men in black suits with orange shirts underneath, black fedoras, black wing-tips, and orange shades walked through the door. One of them walked over to the glass case in the front of the shop and touched his gloved hand on top of the glass. As Natsu went behind the counter to wait for the man to speak, that same man suddenly stepped aside as a different guy took his place. This man had slanted, dark-green eyes and bright, long, orange hair, with long bangs covering his right eye. Black eyeliner traced his visible left eye and he wore a red-lined white suit with long black pants and black shoes. His accessories included a small gray scarf, black gloves with buckled sleeves, and a black bowler hat with a small feather tucked into its red band. Raising his eyebrow at the man's strange fashion sense, Natsu asked, "Can I help you gents with anything? Or are you just looking for a time machine because I don't know if those clothes fit this time period."

The orange-haired man chuckled as he pulled out the cigar that was in his mouth. "Funny. Quite the comedic act you've got there. Granted, I don't think I should be taking fashion advice from someone with pink hair. Just doesn't make any sense, right?" He snarked, causing several of the man's cronies to chuckle.

Eye slightly twitching, Natsu laughed off the insult and forced a grin on his face. _'I really hate customers.'_ "Aha…funny. Very funny. So, are we just gonna swap jokes or are we going to get down to business?"

The man looked at him as he lightly tapped some cinders out of his smoking cigar onto the glass case, effectively ruining the neatness of it and all of Natsu's hardwork that led to it being so clean. "Yes…down to business. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?" He asked with a grin, while one of the men behind him pulled out a handgun and pointed it at Natsu's head.

Unflinching, Natsu stared blankly at the men and asked, "Yeah not much. I told my boss that it's pretty pointless to stay open this late, but…you wanna know what he told me? He told me, 'Sooner or later, someone is going to walk into this place because every Dust shop, excluding us, is closed because none of them or as dedicated to their customer base as we'll be.' Granted, the old kook doesn't really talk so it took me a HELL of a long time to decipher just what the hell he was talking about, but I think that was the gist of it. And know, here I am with our "loyal customers" and one of them is pointing a gun directly at my face. Can you see why I think the old man is crazy or what?" He grinned with a shrug. "So, just take the cash if you want, just know…that for every Lien or piece of Dust you steal… _ **I'm gonna take break a bone in each of your bodies, understand?**_ " A demonic growl uttered from the salmon-haired boy.

Moving his head slightly aback from this sudden outburst. The man chuckled, "Well you could certainly try…but then I would have to kill each and every person in this store, which include your boss…and that sweet little girl just behind you." Moving his head to signal one of his cronies to get the girl, he stared back at the salmon-haired boy who for some reason was still glaring at him with an unflinching stare. _'What the hell is wrong with this kid? Doesn't he know who I am? Ah…of course, that's why.'_ Nodding to himself, the man asked, "You have no idea who I am do you?"

Unbeknownst to that man, the same crony who was sent to apprehend the young girl grabbed the girl and turned her around. Ruby looked behind her to see…one of the evil business men her father must have sent to spy on her. Suddenly, the man pulled a handgun in front of her and told her to put her hands up. Ok…either her dad had suddenly gone from super protective to MANIC INSANE protective in the time that she had snuck out of her house, or a more likely option… "Are you… robbing me?" She asked.

Back with the orange-haired man and Natsu, the man had informed him that he was a respected crime lord by the name of Roman Torchwick. Signaling his men to grab the Dust layered throughout the shop, he continued staring at the boy to watch for the same look of fear everyone got on their face when he uttered his name. Surely deep inside of that boy was a storm of fear and cowardice beginning to form and strengthen. It was only a matter of time before he saw that look and…

"I'm sorry who?" Natsu asked with a raised eyebrow.

Roman lightly dropped his jaw as he took a step back from this crazy exclamation. "E-Excuse me! I'm Roman Torchwick. You know, evil crime lord?"

"Nope."

"Leader of a syndicate fraught with hardened criminals and…"

"Nu-uh."

"A major player in the Dust-trafficking business?"

"No."

"5 time winner of the best dressed crime lord of Remnant?"

"Oh, you're that Roman Torchwick?!"

"YES! I'm…"

"Sorry, never heard of ya."

Gritting his teeth in frustration at the boy's slight grin, he slammed a gray case on top of the glass case and growled, "Dust. Burn. Uncut. NOW!"

Rolling his eyes, Natsu moved forward and stared straight into the eyes of this supposedly feared crime lord and whispered, "Make me."

Torchwick quietly gripped his cane and was about to let loose shot after shot on this ignorant, infuriating boy before he saw one of his crony's fly through the front window and lay unconscious on the street. His eyes widened in light shock, he saw that same little red-hooded girl suddenly slam her legs into another one of his men through the now broken window. "COME ON, RUBY! THAT'S COMING OUTTA MY PAYCHECK!" Natsu yelled, sprinting outside the store and stopped beside her.

"Hehe whoops. My bad. I could pay for it if you want…but all my money is in pennies." She said, rubbing her head embarrassedly. Touching a button on the side of her weapon, it suddenly began to expand into the form of a scythe with a hook-like, double-pronged, jagged blade at the end of its shaft. Turning her head to smile back at the formally dressed criminals, she suddenly glared at them and twirled her scythe around her body and slammed the sharp tip into the street, effectively breaking it apart. A loud song was blasting from her headphones as she stared at them and touched it to turn it off.

Glaring at the two new thorns in his side, " Okay…get them." Torchwick said in a tone that stated the obvious to his henchmen. The rest of his men swarmed outside and readied their sharp red swords as they charged straight for the two.

"Great…well, I did need some exercise for those cookies we ate earlier I guess." Natsu muttered to himself.

"Yeah, let's kick their butts!" Ruby yelled, pulling herself upwards and spinning herself around from her scythe; slamming her feet against one of the henchmen and causing him to slam onto the sidewalk.

"Hey, no hogging!" The dragon slayer shouted back, igniting his hands with furious flames. Shooting himself forward, Natsu ducked left as he avoided a swing from the crony's sword and swerved right to avoid another one. Ducking down and spinning his legs to trip the black-suit crony, **"Fire Dragon's Spinning Claw!"** He yelled, forcing the henchmen to be swung off of his feet and then suddenly punched straight in the gut by another flaming fist onto the ground. **"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"** The fire mage bellowed, slamming the criminal hard onto street, effectively cracking it from his superior strength.

Seeing two more henchmen try to surround her, Ruby quickly spun herself and clicked the trigger of her scythe; shooting her forward and slamming her dull point of her scythe onto one of the men which caused him to fly upwards into the air and crash through one of the other building's windows. She then proceeded to slam the scythe down onto the other criminal, slamming him into the ground with a roar of pain.

Sighing to himself, Roman slowly walked outside to see the outright defeat his so called "bodyguards" had suffered. "Well…you were all absolutely worth every cent. Truly you were" He said sarcastically, glaring down onto his defeated men. Torchwick then turned his head upwards to stare at the two that had effectively defeated his henchmen and gave them a mock applause for their efforts. "Well, Red, Pinkie, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening…" He said, dropping his cigar and stomping it with his cane. "…and as much as I'd love to stick around, I'm afraid this is where we part ways." Torchwick growled, raising his cane, which had suddenly propped up a scope, and fired.

Natsu quickly jumped towards Ruby and barricaded her from the incoming shot before it could touch her, which forced them to be pushed back onto the street. They both groaned as their bodies slammed onto the street and Natsu looked down to see that Ruby was indeed alright. "Ok…that kinda stung." Natsu muttered, lightly grimacing from the shot he had just endured.

Ruby quickly got her bearings together and realized that she wasn't shot…but Natsu was! Moving out of Natsu's grip, she moved behind him to see that a gunshot wound had broken through Natsu's back and clapped her hand to her mouth in shock. "Oh my gosh! N-Natsu, are you ok?! Please tell you'll be ok!" She yelled, zipping around to look at Natsu's face. Surprisingly, he didn't seem to be in tremendous pain, but he still had a light grimace on his face.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine, Ruby. Just don't lose sight of him." The dragon slayer mumbled, willing his body in the hopes that he would heal faster.

"B-But you've been shot! I need to take you to a hospital!" The hooded girl cried, wrapping Natsu's arm around her shoulder and pushed them upwards.

Suddenly, Natsu escaped from her grasp and moved away from her. "I'll be okay! Just…hey look! There he is!" He yelled, pointing towards Roman Torchwick who was climbing a ladder across the street. "Okay, stay here. I'll go-"

"No! You're hurt! I'll go get him and take him down before he escapes." Ruby shouted, turning towards the building where Torchwick was escaping to. She turned her head to see Natsu's boss look out from the broken window and yelled to him, "Take care of, Natsu! He's been shot! I'm going after the guy that robbed you!" After yelling at him, Ruby willed herself forward and took off towards the building.

Natsu widened his eyes as he saw one of his closest friends run to fight all by herself. No…no he couldn't lose her. Not only would he never forgive himself if something happened to her, but neither would Yang. Running towards the building, Natsu grabbed the ladder and quickly began climbing it.

Torchwick quickly hopped over the low wall that the ladder was attached to and continued sprinting away towards the edge of the building. Unfortunately for him, a certain red-hooded nuisance had returned…

"Hey!" Ruby yelled, readying her weapon just in case he tried to attack.

"Persistent…aren't you?" Torchwick chuckled to himself, staring downwards as he saw that his ride had appeared. A large gust of wind suddenly blew across the top of the building. The cause of it being a humongous cargo plane that now stopped in front of the building. It lowered itself for Torchwick to hop in, to which he did so gladly. As he stood upright in the plane, Roman turned around to look back at Ruby. "End of the line, Red. Give Pinkie my regards, will you?" He chuckled, gripping a red chunk of Dust and threw it in front of Ruby. Grinning to himself, he raised his cane and fired in the hopes of eliminating the small girl in one small explosion, but…

"Why don't you tell me yourself, you pretentious prick!" A growl emanated atop the building as Natsu hopped in front of Ruby and kicked the piece of Dust upwards towards the ship. The piece of dust sailed closer towards the ship as the shot that Torchwick had fired hit it, causing it to explode closer to the ship and damage it.

"N-Natsu?! What are you doing here?! You just go shot! You shou-" Ruby's eyes suddenly widened as she looked down to see that the gunshot wound that had been earlier inflicted onto Natsu had…disappeared? But…that was impossible. She saw the gunshot wound with her own eyes…and it now was gone. "H-How…"

"Hehe…I've always been a fast healer, Ruby. Guess I'm just lucky, huh?" Natsu chuckled, looking back at Ruby with a wink.

As the airship got its bearings back, Torchwick growled as he stared back at the two nuisances and prepared to fire another shot at them until the plane was suddenly hit by an unknown force. The plane was pushed backwards slightly as it tried once again to regain its bearings. "Oh what now?!" The orange-haired criminal yelled to himself. He looked down at the building to see someone new to the pair of nuisances.

Appearing in front of Natsu and Ruby, a woman who appeared to be a middle-aged woman that had very light-blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. Her eyes were bright green and she wore thin ovular glasses. She had dangling teal earrings that matched the hanging pendant on her collar. She also wore a white long-sleeved, pleated top that had a wide keyhole neckline and gauntlet cuffs that flare in pleats at the wrist. Her lower body was covered by a black high-waisted pencil skirt with bronze buttons and black-brown stockings. She wore black boots with brown heels, and a cape that was purple inside and black on the outside. The cut of the cape seemed to be stylized to end in flames and arrows, with a row of diamond-shaped bronze beads on the back.

"Well…she came out of nowhere." Natsu mumbled to himself in shock.

Ruby herself though just stood in awe at seeing this amazing women project what looked like a purple energy shield right in front of them.

Pushing her glasses closer to her eyes, the woman raised her riding crop and fired several more purple energy shots that rained atop the cargo plane. Inside the plane, Torchwick stumbled around and tried to get a grip on something until the plane finally settled down again. He then quickly poked his head inside the captain's quarters and yelled, "We got a Huntress!" to his dark-haired female companion dressed in red in the captain's chair. The dark-haired woman then got off of the chair and switched places with Torchwick, who took over the controls of the plane. Outside the plane, the blonde Huntress imbued her riding crop with purple energy and shot it forward; creating a storm cloud on top of the cargo plane as it made its escape. Shards of ice then rained down from above onto the cargo plane, penetrating the hull of it.

"AWESOME!" Natsu and Ruby yelled together.

Her top half shrouded by darkness, the dark-haired woman walked forward to the open door of the plane and summoned flames to her body. Raising her hand forwards, she shot several fire blasts towards the Huntress.

"OOOOO Flames! I call dibs!" The dragon slayer yelled as he sprinted in front of the blonde Huntress.

"What are you doing?!" She shouted at the salmon-haired boy, while Natsu just ignored her, and caught the flames in mid-air, eliciting a look of shock from the Huntress, and unbeknownst to the others, from the dark-haired female as well.

"Mmmmmm haven't eaten a flame in what feels like forever! Bottoms up!" Natsu said, happily eating the flames that were so graciously given to him by that strange female with the red high heels.

Torchwick looked down to see that the same boy he shot was now alive and well and eating the flames that his companion had conjured up. "Great! That damn pink-haired boy can tank a gunshot and eat fire?! What's next, he can fly?!"

The dark-haired woman's eyes suddenly widened as she heard the mention of pink-hair come from her criminal partner's mouth. She didn't notice till now…but that boy's hair…it was…pink! _'Could it be? Is it…really him?'_ Smirking to herself inside the shroud of darkness, she quietly laughed to herself. Oh…this all just got very interesting now. But before she could have her fun…they had to escape. Moving her hand downwards, she summoned a fire explosion beneath the Huntress and the pink-haired boy. Hopefully it would kill the Huntress…but the boy would certainly live…he better.

Widening his eyes in shock, Natsu quickly pushed him and the blonde woman out of the way to avoid the explosion. Landing atop her, he failed to notice where he had placed his…hand. "Phew, glad we avoided…ah crap." The dragon slayer squeaked, seeing his hand lightly gripping their blonde savior's breast.

Gritting her teeth in rage, the blonde Huntress kicked the boy off of him, eliciting a cry of pain from Natsu. Quickly willing the falling debris that was caused by the explosion, she then shoved all the pieces together to create spinning arrow and shot it towards the cargo plane. Unfortunately, the dark-haired woman quickly destroyed it via her fire blasts, forcing the debris to dissipate in mid-air. Signaling Torchwick to fly them out of there, he did just that with a grin of triumph. Seeing their enemies get away, and a chance to impress their savior, Ruby began firing Crescent Rose at the plane, but were all easily deflected by the woman in red. Finally, the dark-haired woman swung her hand in a small arc, creating several orange circles the two in the hopes of killing them via explosions. Unfortunately, Natsu chose that time to get up and push the two out of the way again. Before the door closed, the woman in red gave one last look of longing towards the boy with pink-hair.

' _We'll meet again…and when we do I promise I'll save you from their grasp on you…'_

After, the cargo plane quickly took off before the Huntress could have any hopes of stopping them again. As she saw the cargo plane depart, the blonde Huntress glared upwards at it. Ruby stared in admiration at the blonde woman who had come to their aid and walked up to her. "You're a Huntress!" She said, gripping her hands into fists and looked up at her. "Can I have your autograph?"

The blonde woman stared down at the little girl and moved her eyes to glare at the pink-haired simpleton. "Well…surely you two deserve some reward, right?"

"YES!" Ruby shrieked in glee, jumping up and down.'

Natsu on the other hand just rubbed his head awkwardly as he heard the weird tone in the woman's voice. _'I'm not going to like this reward, am I?'_

* * *

"Yup…knew I was gonna hate this 'reward!'" Natsu grumbled, sitting back in his seat in what looked like an interrogation room. After this "kind" woman offered to give the two of them a reward for their good deeds, instead of say, escorting them to a pile of money, woman, or what he would have chosen in a heartbeat…FOOD! Nope, instead of any of that, him and Ruby were escorted to a police interrogation room for trying to take back what was stolen. So the heroes…were being blamed for this whole ordeal.

Oh the irony…

The dragon slayer looked to his left to see poor Ruby slouching in dejection at a woman who was part of her ideal group, Huntresses, scorn her for trying to do the right thing.

…was this a fucked up system or what?

"I hope you realize what your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, you two. You two put yourselves and others in great danger." The Huntress said, walking back and forth behind them.

"They started it!" Ruby yelled back in justification for her actions.

"She's got a point." Natsu replied, pointing at Ruby while looking at the ceiling in boredom. Man…this woman had been droning on for what seemed like hours.

The blonde Huntress nodded from behind them and proceeded to walk in front of the table they were sitting at while pulling out a Scroll. "Well, if it were up to me, you'd be sent home with a pat on the back…"

Ruby smiled as she had finally heard for what seemed like a genuine compliment from the Huntress and grabbed Natsu's arm in glee. Natsu on the other hand just stared blankly at the wall as he waited for the upcoming 'but.' 3…2…1…

"…And a slap on the wrist!" The blonde woman said, slapping her riding crop on top of the table, startling poor Ruby.

"Hey, watch where you point that masochist whacker!" Natsu yelled, eliciting a small glare from the blonde Huntress. _'Heh…guess she hasn't forgiven me for the accidental grope yet…'_

Coughing into a close fist to regain herself, the blonde woman continued. "But…there is someone here who would like to meet the two of you."

"Thank goodness! Maybe this someone will actually give us an actual thank you instead of…well you know, throwing the actual people who were trying to help in an interrogation room!" Natsu retorted with a sarcastic tone, closing his arms around his chest.

Ignoring that sarcastic comment, the blonde woman moved aside to allow a middle-aged man with tousled silver hair and thin brown eyes. He had a light complexion and sharp facial features. He wore shaded glass spectacles and a small, purple, cross-shaped pin on the cowl around his neck. His outfit mainly consisted of an unzipped black suit over a buttoned vest and green shirt. Beneath him, he wore black trouser shoes and long, dark-green pants. In his hands, the man was carrying a plate of what looked like chocolate chip cookies and a mug. "Ruby Rose…What a pleasure to meet you." The man said with a smile, leaning forward to get a closer look at Ruby's face. "You…have silver eyes." He muttered to himself, while Ruby just stared awkwardly at him.

' _Creeper status…'_ "Yes…she also has black hair with red highlights and pale skin. And….gasp! She's…a girl!" Natsu whispered, making a fake surprised face while covering his mouth in faux shock. The man turned from looking at Ruby and gave him questioning smile. "Oh sorry…I thought we were just naming obvious things about her." He chuckled to himself, while elbowing Ruby lightly, causing her to giggle and slap him lightly on the shoulder.

"Ah…please excuse my rudeness, Natsu Dragneel. It's also a pleasure to meet you as well." The man apologized, leaning forward again, but this time to look intently at Natsu's face.

The dragon slayer however wasn't having any of that. "Whoa whoa, creeper man! Let me stop you right there. I don't have silver eyes if that's what you're looking for so you can just…not get so close to me." Natsu said tersely, moving his seat back a bit.

"How dare you! Have some respect for-" The blonde Huntress began to yell before she was stopped by the silver-haired man.

"Now now, Glynda, let's not be so hasty. Natsu just enjoys his personal space. There's nothing wrong with that. Please forgive me for that, but I believe that the eyes are a gateway into a person's own soul…and you…have a very old soul it looks like." The man uttered, taking a sip from his mug without breaking eye contact with Natsu.

Natsu stared back with somewhat widened eyes. "Ok…how do you know my name? Hell, how do you know either of our names?" He asked standoffishly. This man…was getting far too close for his liking.

The man stared back at the boy and grabbed the Scroll that Glynda was holding. "Why I merely just checked the database of known residents in Patch. Ruby Rose…and you."

Ok…there was something wrong. He knew for a fact that he wasn't on any databases…he made sure of that. This man was lying…but he couldn't just ask him in front of Ruby. Gulping down all the rage and questions that were coming upwards, Natsu stayed silent. The man took that in stride and continued on, "So! I was just curious as to where did the two of you learn to do this?" The man motioned to the Scroll playing a video of Ruby and Natsu handling the henchmen outside of the shop.

"S-Signal Academy." Ruby said quietly.

"…Trade secret." Natsu muttered.

The man raised his eyebrow at that, but decided to focus instead on the young girl. "They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?"

"Well, one teacher in particular." Ruby replied.

Nodding his head lightly, the man placed the plate of cookies on top of the table.

Ruby, lightly licking her lips, slowly grabbed a cookie from the plate and placed it into her mouth…and then another…and then another…and another…and another…until she offered Natsu one who declined. Shrugging her shoulders, she kept on munching.

"It's just that I've only seen one other scythe-wielder of that skill before. A dusty old crow." The man said, looking upwards as if he was remembering a particular man.

Natsu froze as he heard that name.

"Mmmm! Thash muh unkul!" Ruby exclaimed with a full mouth. The man looked at her strangely and she quickly realized what had happened and swallowed the rest of the cookies in her mouth. "Hehe…sorry, that's my Uncle Qrow! He's a teacher at Signal! I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing. And now I'm all like—Hooowaaaah! Wicthaaaa!" The cloaked girl shouted, busting out karate chops.

The man chuckled as he saw this, "So, I've noticed." He then turned his eye slightly to the left to see that the same pink-haired boy who seemed so adamant to be heard…now lay silent….at the mention of a name. Choosing to excuse that, but pocketing it for later, he continued, "And what is an adorable little girl such as yourself doing at a girl designed to train warriors?"

"Well…I want to be a Huntress." Ruby said with the utmost longing.

"You want to slay monsters?" The man asked.

"Yeah. I only have two more years of training left at Signal! And then I'm going to apply at Beacon! You see, my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to be a Huntress, and I'm trying to become a Huntress because I wanna help people, and Natsu doesn't want to, but I REALLY want him to be one because I secretly kinda sorta…WHOOPS too much information!" Ruby stopped herself quickly and checked to see if Natsu had heard him. Luckily he seemed to be in his own world like he usually would be and took a tremendous sigh of relief. "Hehe…anyways my parents always taught us to help others, so I thought, 'Hey, I might as well make a career out of it!' Hehe I mean the police are alright, but Huntsman and Huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting and cool and really, gosh, you know!" She squealed in girlish glee.

Glynda just stared at the girl with strange look. _'Truly, this girl is a strange one…'_

The man however had been smiling the whole time he listened to her. The point of the boy however peaked his interest a bit, but chalked that up to the swarming hormones that every young teen felt. "Do you know who I am?"

"You're Professor Ozpin. You're the headmaster of Beacon." Ruby smiled.

Ozpin chuckled at that. "Hello."

Ruby chuckled back. "Nice to meet you." Noticing Natsu had been silent for quite some time, elbowed him lightly.

Natsu shot upwards slightly, as if he had just woken up from a nightmare. Noticing the strange looks he was getting from the three, he tried to play it off. "U-Uh…yeah. That sounds like…very cool."

Ruby shook her head at her friend. "Were you even listening? This is Professor Ozpin! You know, Headmaster at Beacon?"

Natsu just shook his head. "No…but I know that now."

Ozpin laughed at that. "So, Ruby, you want to come to my school?"

"More than anything." Ruby nodded.

Smiling, Ozpin looked at Glynda to see her thoughts on the subject. "Hmmph." She responded, knowing that no matter what she said, he would just do what he thought was best.

"Well okay." Ozpin shrugged, causing Ruby to squeal in excitement and jump out of her seat to do a little jig. Chuckling to himself, Ozpin then turned his head towards the pink-haired boy. "And what about you? Would you be so interested as to join my school?"

Ruby then stopped her little dance routine and squealed again. "OH MY GOSH! Yes! Please join with me, Natsu! It'll be so much more fun with you, me, and Yang together! That way, I'll have to make less friends because I'll have you two! Please, if you lov-err! I mean, if you're my f-friend, then you'll join! PPPPPPPLEEEEEEEEAAAASSSSEEEE!" Ruby exclaimed, pounding her lightly onto Natsu's shoulder.

"No." Natsu replied.

"What?! Why not!" Ruby said in shock. How could someone possibly refuse a chance to join one of the most exclusive Hunter and Huntress academies?!

"Ruby…being a hero is your thing. It's not mine. I just want to go home every day…and just live a normal life." The dragon slayer muttered, inwardly knowing that wasn't what he really wanted. But he had to want it…otherwise, everything would just end the same.

Ozpin closed his eyes and nodded as he heard this. "I presume by home, you mean that small cottage in the middle of the outskirts of Patch, correct?" He asked, eliciting a look of bewilderment from Natsu. Ignoring that, he went on, "My boy, one can only be alone for so long…until the loneliness eats at them and they become bitter. Believe me when I say, I don't want that to happen to you. If being a hero is the problem, then I'll tell you this, no one is born a hero. No, they're made. At my academy we build young people into defenders of the world for if we don't…then we'd lose everything and everyone we love." His eyes staring deep into Natsu's own, showing a strange sort of…kinship and understanding?

Natsu's eyes widened at hearing that. _'Everyone I care about…gone? Ruby…Yang…no. No, I can't! I won't lose them! Not too any Grimm or asshole with a gun or anyone!'_ Turmoil swirled inside of Natsu as he felt the pain of knowing what he was about to do. If he agreed…then he'd be opening himself up to all the pain…and agony that he had faced before. But if he didn't agree…he'd lose two of his closest friends. He couldn't do that…no way! Even if he would lose them….in the end…he'd take that then losing them to some… _monster._ Inhaling deeply and finally exhaling with great agony, Natsu replied, "Ok…I'll do it."

* * *

' _Ok…I immediately regret this!'_ Natsu thought to himself as the plane that proceeded to take him and the rest of the Hunters and Huntresses in training towards Beacon shifted again. His motion sickness taking a hold and caused him to kneel down onto a wall near him. Yang quickly hopped over to him and gave him a pat on the back. "Hey, pal, cheer up! Come on, not only are you going to Beacon with two adorable, beautiful women, but now you get to punch stuff and people will pay you for it! Isn't that amazing!" Yang cheered.

"Y-Yeah…super a-amazing. I just…wished we didn't have to fly there. Ugh…" Natsu moaned, gripping his stomach.

"Oh don't be such a baby! You don't see anyone else-"

"Ugh…coming through. I think I'm going to…BLEGH!" A blonde-haired boy with white armor yelled as he barfed inside the ship, causing numerous people to flock to the other side of the ship.

Natsu then gave Yang a 'See?' look to which she responded with a small shrug. Finally finding them again through the crowd, Ruby ran towards the only two friends she had on the plane. Seeing her, Yang grabbed Ruby in a tight hug and pulled her towards Natsu so they could share a group hug. Feeling Yang's strength sap the air out of their lungs, Natsu and Ruby muttered, "Please stop…"

"Ooooo sorry!" Yang said as she pulled them out of the hug. "Sorry, I'm just so pumped that we're all going to Beacon together! It's a wet dream come true!" Yang cheered, until she realized what she said and covered her mouth.

"Wait what?" Natsu asked, giving a bewildered look towards Yang.

"I think she said it's a we-" Ruby said until she was interrupted by Yang covering Ruby's mouth.

"AAAAA nothing! Hehe I said it's a dream come true! Hehe…" The busty Huntress laughed, trying to play off her embarrassing comment.

"Yeah…a dream." Natsu muttered. _'Or a nightmare…'_

Escaping from her sister's clutches, Ruby slowly walked forwards towards the window and gasped at the view. "Wow…look, you can see Signal from up here!" She exclaimed happily. "I guess home isn't too far after all."

Yang then began slowly walking to her while Natsu followed via a slow crawl. The blonde Huntress then clapped her arm against Ruby's shoulder and gave her a smile. "Beacon's our home now."

Slowly getting up, Natsu threw himself in the middle of Ruby and Yang (to the delight of the both of them) and groaned. "Hooray…we get to spend the next four years of our lives…learning. Blegh…do me a favor, kill me."

"Oh stop being so overdramatic. C'mon it'll be fun!" Yang said, leaning her head into Natsu's ear. "Especially for the two of us." She whispered seductively in his ear. Since they bumped up the departure date, neither of them could go celebrate like they could. Although, the brochure did promise a week of no school after the teams were chosen so the students could fully acclimate themselves before classes started. And that…was the perfect time to start!

"…nope just kill me now. Go on, throw me from the plane right now. Let me feel the sweet embrace of death…" Natsu bemoaned, eliciting a low growl from Yang.

' _Stupid…fucking…idiot! One of these days…I think I may actually kill him, but first things first…gotta convey my damn feelings to him accurately!'_ Yang growled to herself as she stared outside the ship and at Beacon. Well…if all those high school movies told her anything…here was the perfect place for love blossom…as long as said object of her affections wasn't too damn dense about it! Trying to change the subject, Yang said, "Well, I wonder who we're gonna meet."

"Well, I just hope they're better than Vomit boy." Ruby muttered.

"Hey! It's a serious condition!" Natsu groaned.

"N-No! I meant the blonde-haired boy that vomited in the plane! I swear!" The cloaked girl defended herself. She then looked down to see… "Oh, Yang, gross, you have puke on your shoe!"

"Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross…." Yang continued repeating as she ran to the bathroom to clean off the disgusting puke on her shoe. _'Oh Vomit Boy! You're gonna pay!'_

"Get away from me! Get away from me!" Ruby yelled, using Natsu as a human shield.

"Hey! Don't use me to defend yourself!" The dragon slayer shouted.

 **AAAAAAAAAND THAT'S A WRAP! OOOOOOO BOY! I am having so much fun writing this story! I can't wait till I can get to the other characters too! But…that'll have to wait for another time! YEAH, RWBY IS AMAZING!**

 **Now, some people have asked me who is in the harem: Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Blake, Nora, Cinder, Emerald, Neo (maybe, gonna have to really try with her!) As for Pyrrha though, that's up to all of you! I've set up a poll as to who you want me to pair her up with! As for Coco and Velvet as well…I'm thinking about it, but we'll see. Now I'm sure are going to have trouble with the evil women in this harem, but I'm going to try my best to give them personalities outside of "Ooooooo I'm bad! I crave destruction and blah blah blah." No…I'll try to make them more complex characters don't worry.**

 **Anyways, I just want to thank the people who have favorite, followed, and reviewed again! It means a lot to me that people are liking this story! Now, if you enjoyed this chapter, then please favorite, follow, and REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter 3

**HELLO AGAIN! I'm back with another new chapter because I'm loving writing this story and plus, the episodes of RWBY are pretty short to get through. Once people get into their teams, I'll slow down from the canon episodes and focus more on character building and relationship building as well. Also, some people have asked me to add Glynda and Winter into the harem. Whether I will or not, we'll see. I'm interested, but those relationships wouldn't be the main focus compared to say Team RWBY and Natsu's. But, perhaps I'll play around with them a bit. Don't worry, I'm going to try to take extra careful of the romantic relationships so have no fear!**

 **Disclaimer: In the first chapter**

 _ **Landing Strip outside of Beacon**_

"Ugh….this really sucks. Shoulda just flown myself her with my flames or somethin' ugh…." Natsu murmured as he slowly crawled out of the bathroom, having used that as a chance to vomit out the rest of his guts and to change. He now wore a sleeveless, gold trimmed, black waistcoat, often left open and untucked, exposing his bare chest, a gold trimmed, black cloth around his waist that reaches his knees, held by a leather brown belt with an oval-shaped silver buckle, white knee-length trousers with black ribbon ties, a thick black wristband on his left wrist, black open-toed sandals and the scale-patterned scarf he loved so dear. The poor boy had been forced to suffer through hell on his way to his new life that was certain to be filled with violence, blood, and blood…so much blood. Shaking his head to dispel those negative thoughts, Natsu pushed himself against a wall and slowly willed himself upwards to stand. After he succeeded in his endeavor, the dragon slayer took a leisurely pace outside of the ship and saw… "OH COME ON! Did they seriously forget I was in the restroom?! I was only in there for…twenty minutes. Ugh…no wonder they ditched me." He sighed, taking careful measures to look at his surroundings. In front of him, there laid several large towers that loomed over the children like a guardian, trees that offered plenty of shade to the young people who chose to relax under them, several moats were carved throughout the academy it seemed; the water inside giving a pristine reflection. As Natsu walked along, a long path stretched forward towards the academy. Natsu suddenly stopped himself before he crossed. "Well, this is it. Once I cross over this line…I'm here for good." The fire mage mumbled to himself, staring up at the academy that would inevitably doom him to another life filled with despair. Taking a deep breath and remembering who exactly he was doing this for (a black and red-haired girl and a blonde-haired girl popped into his mind) and stepped over threshold that separated him from a normal life and traversed further towards the academy, not knowing the future he would forge not just for himself, but for numerous others as well in the process.

As Natsu continued looking around, he failed to watch where he was going and bumped into someone with hard armor. Normally, with his superior strength, he would have pushed the person down onto the ground, but this was no ordinary person he bumped into. "Oh shit, excuse me! I didn't see where I was going." The dragon slayer exclaimed, removing himself from his little world and focusing back into the real world.

Turning around the girl, lightly jumped at being startled at her thought process being interrupted. The girl he bumped into wore her red hair in a waist-length ponytail, curled slightly into a loose ringlet, and had vivid green eyes. She also wore light-green eye-shadow around the far upper corners of her eyes. She was tall and quite muscular compared to most of the other girls he had seen on the plane. Her top consisted of two layers. The top layer was a light-brown, strapless top split divided vertically with some bronze patterns. It might have been a piece of leather or metal armor as it appeared to be quite stiff, maintaining its shape without support; this layer also seemed to have some kind of riveting or small, round embroidery on the sides, which may also have been heavy stitching. The bottom layer is a low bronze V-neck. Around her body, she wore an elastic, black, A-line miniskirt and brown opera-length gloves on both arms. She also wore a red ankle-length drapery that appeared to be wrapped around her skirt. Natsu inwardly gulped at the beauty he had just been giving the honor of beholding with his own eyes. Regaining her thoughts, the girl smiled nervously as she said, "Oh h-hello. Please, it's no problem. I should have been paying attention to my surroundings as well."

Natsu sighed in relief as he realized that this woman wasn't going to blow up at him. "Phew, well I still say it was mostly my fault, but I'll tell you what, how bout we split it 70-30?" He said, hoping his poor humor would destroy any sense of tension there might have been between the two just in case.

The red-haired girl was slightly taken aback by this normal response and wondered if this boy didn't know who she was. Quickly jumping on the chance to make a friend, she said, "Yes! O-Okay! It'll be your entire fault!" Suddenly realizing what she said, she inwardly berated herself for her stupidity, _'No, no Pyrrha! He was obviously making a joke! Oh darn it! Now he's gonna think I'm angry at him or crazy!'_

Chuckling to himself, Natsu could see that the poor girl seemed a little nervous for some reason. Why she was, was certainly beyond him. But he had been around Ruby to see the signs for any sense of social awkwardness; the darting eyes, the low amount of eye contact, stuttering, perhaps some sweat, etc. However, seeing as how he didn't know this particular girl too much, the dragon slayer decided not to tease her for it. "Well, if you say so I guess. Wouldn't wanna get on your bad side, right?" Natsu chuckled, waving his hands upwards as if he was being arrested.

Pyrrha looked at the man in shock. He wasn't mad at her? Good…that was good! And, he seemed not to have any idea as to who she was! Great! "Y-Yes, I m-mean, I'm perfectly fine with splitting the blame. I'm…I'm P-Pyrrha Nikos by the way." She said, inwardly hoping that she hadn't just ruined a potential friendship with someone because of her fame.

"WHOA! Now that's a cool name! Pyrhha Nikos…that sounds like a badass warrior name…Oooooo or maybe a spy! 'The name is Nikos…Pyrrha Nikos.' Whoa…hey, mind if I trade names with you?" The dragon slayer joked.

Pyrrha lightly chuckled as she realized that the man was joking with her. "O-Oh I don't think Pyrrha is a good fit for a man. People would certainly judge you for it…and not a good type of judging."

Natsu's smile shrinked a bit. "Y-Yeah…people are often quick to judgments, aren't they?"

Realizing that what she said had somehow offended the man, Pyrrha quickly tried to remedy the situation. "I-I mean, Pyrrha would be a great name for a boy! I…I always planned on naming my son Pyrrha." The red-haired Huntress exclaimed, until she realized what she had said and hit her leg as a form of punishment for that stupid line. _'Oh! What kind of girl immediately jumps to naming their son a girl's name?! Oh I'm blowing this…'_

Seeing the poor girl struggle in this conversation, he decided to just put her out of her misery. "Natsu. Natsu Dragneel. Nice to meetcha." The dragon slayer smiled, holding out his hand.

Pyrrha immediately took a hold of his hand and shook it wildly. "Pyrrha Nikos! W-wait I-I…I already told you that. I-I'm sorry. It's just…it's been a while since I've been able to have a normal conversation with someone."

Tilting his head in confusion, Natsu asked, "Why?"

Pyrrha was about to answer his question, until she realized what she would be doing to this potential friendship. _'NO! I can't tell him who I am. If I do, he'll never treat me like a normal person again. It'll just be like all my friends back home…'_ "Oh...no reason." She mumbled, looking away.

Natsu could tell that this wasn't a particular conversation the girl wanted to have so he respected her wishes. "Well, alright then. Listen, I've gotta find my friends before they get themselves killed or something. Those two couldn't open a pickle jar without destroying a room…well at least Yang mostly, but Ruby would damage it a little bit too…" Natsu whispered to himself, remembering all those horrible times and shuddering.

Pyrrha sweatdropped at his particular comment, but realized that she could potentially lose her only chance at a normal friend. She had to monopolize on him…err…she meant on his friendship. Yeah…that was it. "W-Wait! I could help you find your friends. You know what they say, two heads are better than one hehe." She chuckled nervously, hoping that he would agree.

Natsu shrugged. "Makes sense. Alright, thanks for the help. I appreciate it."

Smiling, Pyrrha jumped for joy as Natsu turned to walk away. "Okay! I-I mean, no problem."

* * *

The two had looked around outside, but couldn't find hide or hair of either Ruby or Yang. They had managed to hear a rumor about a poor girl blowing her and another person up. Natsu sighed to himself as that only could have been Ruby, the social dunce that she was. She was last seen with a blonde-haired boy with white armor (which sounded like that Vomit Boy on the plane) on their way to the announcement that was promised in the brochure. Pyrrha, having read up on where it was taking place, led Natsu towards the room. Pushing open the big door, the two stepped inside to see numerous amounts of students standing around and conversing with each other. Natsu only took a step before a small body crashed into him, pushing him onto the floor. "FOUND YOU! Oh, we thought we lost you! Where were you! …Hey nice clothes. Also, Yang left me and then I met this white-haired meanie who I blew up and then I met Jaune who's nice, but not the same as you! And I'm currently freaking out here!" Ruby yelled, pounding her small head into Natsu's chest.

"OK OK! Calm down, Ruby! Jeez…and wait a minute! Don't blame me for any of that! You two were the ones who ditched me! If it wasn't for…oh shoot hold on." Natsu said, pushing him and Ruby upwards (who for some reason, refused to untie her legs from around his back). "Ruby…down girl." He told her, eliciting a small whine as she unraveled her legs from him. Rolling his eyes, he waved his hands over to Pyrrha to introduce her, "Ruby, this is- UGG!" The dragon slayer grunted, being taken down by a much…bustier body this time.

"HAHA! Got you! You're not getting away from me, hot stuff. No way, no how…also nice new clothes." Yang grinned, liking the position she had placed them in right now.

"Ugh…that's the second time today I've been tackled." Natsu muttered, pulling himself and Yang upwards (who also refused to unwrap her legs from Natsu). "Yang…off."

"No." She replied.

"Come on! How the hell am I supposed to do anything with you hanging on me like this?!" Natsu exclaimed, waving his arms frantically.

' _I can think of one thing.'_ "I'm sure you'll find a way." Yang smirked, holding herself closer to the warm body of her friend.

Sighing, Natsu once again turned towards Pyrrha, "Ok, you two, this is-" Until he was interrupted by…

"Hey, Ruby, there you are. Listen I know you kinda just…ditched me there." A tall teenage boy with dark-blue eyes that seemed to be emphasized by his messy blonde hair suddenly appeared. He was quite toned, having strong muscles in his arms, shoulders and upper chest. He wore a white diamond-shaped chestplate and white spaulders with rerebrace. Under the armor, he wore a black hoodie with detached reddish-orange sleeves and an image of the bunny rabbit Pumpkin Pete hidden underneath the chestplate. He also wore blue pants with a white patch on the left knee, as well as black sneakers with "left" and "right" written in black on the respective shoes' soles

"VOMIT BOY!" Yang growled, unwrapping herself from Natsu (to which she was very sad about and used that as another reason to beat this kind into oblivion) and stalked towards the boy. "You vomited on my shoes! Do you know how long I had to clean them off because of you?!"

The boy slowly began backing up in panic before Ruby suddenly stepped in front of him. "Wait, Yang, he's my friend! Jaune's the one who helped me after I kinda…blew up."

Yang looked at the boy with furious eyes as she remembered the horror of that bathroom trip. _'Ugh…it smelled horrible.'_ But saw that Ruby really seemed to like the boy and remembered just how hard it was for Ruby to make friends and begrudgingly decided to let it go. "Fine…but don't this makes up for puking on my shoes." She growled towards Jaune.

Jaune waved his hands in front of his face. "Y-Yeah, of course. No problem hehe."

Natsu on the other hand was tapping his foot impatiently as the conversation finally came to an end. "Ok…now that that is over. Can I finally introduce Pyrrha now? Unless anyone else would love to jump on top of me, Jaune, Pyrrha, Ru-HEY! I was joking! Ruby, down! …Yang, I see you too." Natsu growled, causing both Ruby and Yang to retreat back while mumbling to themselves. "Okay then, Ruby, Yang,…and I guess Jaune, this is Pyrrha. She helped me find you two…or I guess three technically." He said, motioning towards Pyrrha, who had been waiting patiently to be introduced.

"Hey! Thanks for finding our lost Natsu. Sometimes he just kind of gets away from us." Ruby chuckled.

"Can you please not talk about me as if I'm some sort of pet?" The fire mage grumbled.

"But you are our pet. I mean, in a way. We feed you, play with you, lov-err! C-Care about you!" Ruby yelled, covering her mouth afterwards.

Pyrrha raised her eyebrow at the odd display that she had just seen, but just ignored it. Perhaps…this was how friends acted towards one another now? In that case…she immediately jumped onto Natsu, to which he was bracing himself for but still fell anyways. "Ugh…why?" Natsu mumbled, his air supply slowly fading because of the heavy armor Pyrrha was wearing.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Pyrrha exclaimed as she quickly got off of him. "I…I just thought that was how friends interacted with each other." She murmured, dusting herself off and not noticing the protective growl that left Yang's mouth. Jaune did however...and he slowly backed away towards where the pink-haired boy was.

As Natsu was slowly getting up, he noticed a strange young girl, dressed primarily in light blue, white, and some red. She wears a pale blue bolero jacket over a similarly colored thigh-length dress with a piece of black lace making up the neckline of the dress. The inside of the bolero is red and the sleeves turn blue as they get closer to her wrists. She also wore an apple-shaped necklace along with a pair of thin, rectangular earrings. On her feet, she wore white, heeled wedge boots that go to her mid-calf; the insides are also lined with red. Her long white hair was pulled back in an off-center ponytail, at the base of which is a small tiara that resembles icicles. She had a pale complexion and ice blue eyes. She also bore a crooked scar down her left eye. "Um…Ruby, there's a weird-looking ghost chick behind you." Natsu said, pointing behind Ruby.

Ruby suddenly looked behind her to see… "Weiss! Oh my gosh, you're gonna yell at me again, aren't you?!" The cloaked-girl screamed, jumping aback.

"Well, I definitely should! You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!" Weiss shouted back.

"Whoa! What the heck were you doing on the side of the cliff?! Why the hell would you be there?!" Natsu asked in shock.

"No no! We weren't on the side of the cliff. We were in the middle of the academy walkway outside. I sorta dropped some of her Dust and…blew ourselves up." Ruby muttered, poking her index fingers together.

"Exactly! Totally idiotic!" The Schnee retorted, placing her hands on her hips.

"Ok, back off, lady. I'm sure Ruby said she was sorry, and I don't know if you happen to know this…but the middle of a floating academy does not necessarily constitute being on the edge of a cliff. So, I'm pretty sure that neither of you two were in danger of being 'blown off the side of the cliff.' Just saying!" Natsu replied with a sarcastic tone.

Weiss gritted her teeth as she was again being shown up by a stranger. First that black-haired she-devil and now this pink-haired dolt?! "Ugh! Just take this!" She growled, holding out a brochure to Ruby.

"What's this?" Ruby asked.

"The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company product. Although not mandatory, the Schnee Family highly encourages their customers to-" Weiss ranted until she was interrupted.

"OH! That's who you are. You're a Schnee! Now I recognize you. Yeah, I used to work at the Dust shop over in Patch. My boss…had quite to say about your family." Natsu grinned.

"Oh? And what exactly did he say?" Weiss scowled.

Natsu clapped his hands together softly. "Well…let's just say that was he said should not be repeated in front of sweet little girls like Ruby. So, let's just say that they weren't particularly nice things, ok?" He grinned at her, eliciting an irritated growl from Weiss.

Ruby immediately got in the middle of them and turned to Weiss. "Wait! Please, I'll do anything to make it up to you. Just please tell me!"

Weiss then pushed the brochure into Ruby's arms at hearing that. "Read this and don't ever speak to me again."

Yang quickly sidestepped into the conversation in the hopes of helping her sister out. "Look, it sounds like you two got off on the wrong foot! Why don't you just start over and try to be friends, okay?"

"Yeah, great idea, Sis! Hello, Weiss! I'm Ruby! Want to hang out! We can go shopping for school supplies!" Ruby asked with a smile, holding out her hand in the hopes Weiss would agree.

Weiss then motioned her hands upwards in fake happiness. "Yeah, and we can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys like tall, pink, and bone-headed over there!" The Schnee motioned over to Natsu.

' _Hrgh! It's not pink! It's salmon! Fuck! Why can't people see that?!'_ Natsu growled to himself.

"Oh wow, I totally know what you mean! Sure he's not the smartest, but hey neither am I! …I mean, really?" Ruby asked hopefully.

"No." Weiss deadpanned.

Before anyone could reply, a loud noise echoed through the room. The students then turned towards Professor Ozpin who had tapped the microphone to see if it was functional. "Ahem…I'll keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge."

"Nope!" Natsu screamed, eliciting looks of shock from the students around him. They then turned to see Glynda fuming on top of the stage, but Ozpin didn't even seem to register the salmon-haired boy's voice.

"To hone your craft and acquire new skills."

"Against my will!"

"And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people."

"I mean, I guess."

"Would you shut up!" Weiss whispered vehemently.

Ruby and Yang just snickered as they saw their friend commence his outrageous behavior.

"Man, he seems…like he doesn't care much for the authority here, huh?" Jaune whispered to Pyrrha.

"Nope…doesn't seem like it. But, I'm sure it's just a type of defense mechanism. We are in a new environment after all so perhaps he's just nervous." Pyrrha replied. _'The truly strange one here is Professor Ozpin. It doesn't look like he even notices Natsu's shouts.'_

"But I look amongst all of you and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose, direction." Ozpin continued.

"Wow…what a downer." Yang deadpanned.

"Tell me about it." Natsu agreed with an equal deadpan stare.

"You assume knowledge will free you of this but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." Ozpin uttered, focusing his eyes on a certain black and red-haired girl and salmon-haired lad. Afterwards, he departed from the microphone and allowed Glynda to take the reins.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow your initiation begins-" Glynda said until she heard a loud groan from the noisy salmon-haired boy, which she responded with a glare (still remembering what he did to her body that night.) "Be ready. You are dismissed!" She said with an affirmative tone and removed herself from the stage.

"Well, Ozpin seemed kind of off, almost like he wasn't there." Yang murmured.

Jaune then slid himself into the conversation just to put himself out there. "By the way, ladies, I'm a natural blond."

"Same here. Well, natural SALMON. Just so you all know…salmon." Natsu said, focusing primarily on the salmon color of his hair.

"Seriously, I thought you dyed it that color?" Jaune replied.

"Nope. All natural." Natsu responded with a grin.

"Well, does the carpet match the drapes?" Yang grinned, elbowing Natsu.

"…I'm out." Natsu replied, walking away with a deadpan stare.

"W-Wait! It was a joke. Wait, come back! Don't run so fast, you know I can't keep up with you!" Yang ran towards the escaping Natsu.

"Wait! Don't leave me alone!" Ruby screamed, chasing after the two.

Jaune watched the three of them leave the room and turned to the remaining two women that were beside him. "Well, Weiss, Pyrrha, guess now it-"

"OH MY GOSH! You're Pyrrha Nikos! I'm so sorry I didn't recognize you before, but those two were just so…I'm so sorry!" Weiss pushed Jaune away to get closer to her idol.

"Haha…yes that's me, but could you please try to keep it on the down low. I would really appreciate it if we didn't announce my presence to the whole academy." Pyrrha asked nicely, hoping that no one would tell Natsu who exactly she was.

"Oh of course! Please excuse me. W-Would you like to walk to our sleeping quarters right now?" The Schnee heiress asked hopefully.

"Sure. Sounds fun." The red-haired warrior agreed, walking together with the Schnee heiress.

Jaune just stood there in shock as he was abandoned again. "Aye…one is the loneliest number that you ever knew…two can be as bad as one…oh this sucks." The blonde-haired geek mumbled as he followed after his friends.

* * *

Night had fallen and the students were gathered into the cafeteria to sleep inside. Sleeping bags were given to the students and most had changed into the proper sleeping attire. Natsu pushed open the door that led back to the cafeteria in his own pajamas; he was wearing a black sleeveless T-Shirt, a pair of white trousers, his black and white scarf was now tied to his forehead, and had placed his patented sandals in his knapsack. Scouring the rows of people for his friends, somebody once again bumped into him, but this time it wasn't his fault. "Oh for the love of…" Natsu growled as he turned around to yell at whomever bumped into him, until he saw who it was. "Pyrrha?" The dragon slayer asked, eyes widening at seeing Pyrrha's choice of pajamas. The red-haired Huntress was dressed in a pink, nearly translucent nightgown that stretched down to her mid-thigh. Jaw dropped, Natsu couldn't even form a coherent word let alone a response to seeing this…goddess.

"H-Hi! Long time no see, huh? W-Well, actually I guess it's not so long seeing as how we just saw each other a couple of hours ago, but…Hi!" Pyrrha said, waving her hand nervously at the surprised dragon slayer. _'Ok…just don't tell him how long you've been waiting outside the bathroom to talk to him. But, he sure took long in there. I hope he doesn't have any digestive issues…wait?! What the heck am I even thinking?! Oh…I'm so nervous. This could probably be my only chance of making a true friend here and I can't mess this up!'_ "S-So…it's quite beautiful tonight, isn't it?" The scarlet-haired warrior asked, twirling a string of her hair nervously.

Gulping, Natsu replied, "Y-Yeah…beautiful. T-The night! The night is…b-beautiful. Yes. Ahem…so, I-I really need to find my friends so-"

"Oh, there right over there. Near the middle of the third row." Pyrrha pointed out.

Natsu followed her finger and immediately picked out his friends figures amongst the strangers. "Ah! There they are. Hey, thanks." He said, patting Pyrrha on the back, feeling her bare skin from the backless nightgown.

Unable to form a single word, Pyrrha merely held out her hand as she once again messed up to solidify the friendship between herself and the salmon-haired boy. "Ay…making friends is harder then I remember." Pyrrha mumbled, as she turned around to walk away. She then suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder and nearly jumped up in glee as she saw that Natsu had returned to her.

"Hey, there are a couple of empty spaces near us, if you wanna hang out." Natsu asked.

"YES!" Pyrrha responded immediately, making the fire mage jump back in surprise at the loud response he got. Noticing her odd response, Pyrrha blushed and cleared her throat, "I-I mean, yes. That sounds lovely. Let me just go grab my stuff and I'll m-meet you over there."

Natsu nodded as he accepted her answer and waved to her as he retreated back to his friends. As he neared the two, Yang, who was now wearing an orange tank top with her flame emblem on the front, and black boy shorts, whistled out to him. "What?" Natsu asked.

"Oh nothing. Just telling Ruby over here just how happy I am to see such handsome, virile men amongst our company." Yang waved her hand over the dragon slayer. "Exhibit A for example." She grinned.

Natsu looked himself over and shrugged. "Meh, I'm okay."

"Please tell me you're joking. Not many guys I've met have such a…virile body" The busty Huntress growled seductively.

Natsu just shook his head as he moved his head through the crowd. Suddenly grinning, Natsu pointed out towards the edge of the row, "Haha now that's a man with a… "virile body", dont'cha think?"

Yang turned her head to see who he was pointing out and saw…Jaune in a blue onesie grinning at her. "Ewwwwww…don't ever bring up this image again"

"What? I think the guy's alright. Nice, kinda meekish, but hey sometimes that's pretty cool, eh Ruby?" Natsu poked her, noticing her change of attire; a black tank top with a heart-shaped Beowolf design on the chest and white long pants with pink roses as decoration.

"Hey, I'm not meek…I'm just small…and socially awkward! That doesn't make me meek…just…yeah!" Ruby complained, refusing to so much as finish her complaint…and it wasn't because she couldn't think of a proper comeback!

Rolling his eyes, the salmon-haired boy noticed his sleeping bag was moved to now being… "Yang, why is my sleeping bag between you and Ruby?'

Whistling nonchalantly, Yang replied, "No reason."

"Ok, I'm not sleeping there." Natsu deadpanned.

"Give me one reason why not." Yang pouted, crossing her arms underneath her ample bust.

Natsu simply pointed downwards at her. "I can give you _two_ of them if you'd like."

Looking down at her large, firm bosom, a sense of profound confidence swelled inside of Yang. _'Well…maybe he's not as dense as I thought.'_ The blonde Huntress then merely responded with a shrug as she patted onto his sleeping bag. "Coooooome on. It'll be fun! Like a sleepover."

"Yang, for the love of-"

A mild cough interrupted the two's conversation and they all turned to see Pyrrha rubbing her arm nervously. "H-Hello. I…I'm here for the sleepover."

Raising her eyebrow, Yang questioned, "And who exactly invited you?" Pyrrha merely pointed to Natsu to which Yang looked at him with a rather inquisitive, and rather irritated, gaze.

"What?" Natsu asked.

"…Nothing." Yang replied emotionlessly, shuffling her body to look away from him.

"Oh come on, what is it?" The dragon slayer asked again, sitting down and shuffling over to the now irritated Yang.

"I said, it's nothing." The irritated blonde replied.

Natsu turned to Ruby for some kind of assistance, but received another somewhat irritated glare. "What? What's wrong with you now?!"

"…four." Ruby muttered.

Natsu looked at the small girl like she was insane as he asked, "What? What the heck are you even talking about?"

"You said there are two reasons why you wouldn't sleep between us…but there are FOUR!" Thrusting out her petite body in an exasperated fashion. "I'd just like to point that out that I also drink plenty of milk. Thank you very much!"

The dragon slayer couldn't even say a thing as he stared at her with a bewildered expression. "I…I have no idea what the hell is going on here." He then turned towards Pyrrha with an apologetic look, "Sorry. I swear that while they are kinda crazy…they're not this crazy."

Pyrrha had been watching the odd exchange between the three of these friends and, while it did confuse her, there was still a strange sense of camaraderie that exuded from them. Chuckling, Pyrrha said, "Don't apologize. It seems like this is merely a case of friends conversing with one another. Granted, I don't quite understand it, but I can still feel a strong bond between the three of you."

Rubbing his head in an embarrassed fashion, Natsu chuckled too. "Hehe yeah. While I don't exactly understand these two sometimes, there's no one I'd rather be friends with!" The dragon slayer beamed.

Damn it…he did it again. Yang didn't know how he did it, but even she was outright furious at him, somehow this damn dolt would turn things on their head and make her realize why she cared so much for him. While he wasn't the smartest guy around, Natsu had a strong sense of loyalty to the two that never wavered. "Ay…this damn guy." Yang muttered, pulling herself upwards and threw her arms around his shoulders. "I seriously don't know how you do it, but you somehow make everything all right…even though I freaking hate you for it."

"Hehe, part of my charm, I guess." Natsu grinned, scratching the side of his face. He then grunted as he felt Ruby's petite body slam into him for a hug. For such a small body, she had quite a bit of muscle inside of it…

"Awww! You big lug, we love you too! …Eeep!" Ruby squealed, pushing her face deeper into Natsu's chest in an embarrassed fashion. Both Yang and Natsu just laughed as they rubbed the little girl's head affectionately.

"So…if it's not alright to stay here…I could eas-" Pyrrha begun to leave before Yang stopped her.

"No no just stay. Ol' Natsu would probably make a big fit over kicking you out. Besides, my little Sis is in dire need of more friends. So cop a squat and relax!" Yang laughed, scootching over to make room so she could sleep next to her little sister, making sure it was not very close to a certain salmon-haired boy.

"Oh thank you! It truly means a lot to me!" Pyrrha thanked the three of them. _'You have no idea…'_ The scarlet-haired girl then quickly placed her sleeping bag on the floor and unfurled it to lay on top of it.

"See, Ruby, now you've made two friends today; Jaune and Pyrrha." Natsu grinned, patting the girl on the back for a job well done.

"Yeah, well, Weiss is pretty much a negative friend so…I just made one." Ruby replied depressingly.

"Hey, that's not true. There is no such thing as negative friends! You just made two friends… and one enemy!" The blonde said with a grin.

Ruby merely plopped her head on her pillow in response.

"Yang…." Natsu groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"What? What did I say?" Yang asked.

"…Nothing." Natsu said emotionlessly, turning his body over to look away from her.

"Hey! That's my thing, you ass!" Yang laughed, pulling him back to her.

"Pshh I seriously doubt you invented that." Natsu retorted with a grin.

"That you know of…" Yang said with a faux foreboding tone, making a scary face.

"Not scary, Sis…" Ruby replied.

"Oh shut up." The blonde responded.

While the three had been conversing in their strange way, Pyrrha had been actively searching for more prospects for perhaps both herself and Ruby to befriend. The young girl was currently suffering from a fate somewhat akin to hers, and that didn't bide well with her. As the lights slowly dimmed, which signaled the teenagers that the designated sleeping time had arrived, a sudden bright light brightened the dark room. Across the room, a girl with long, wavy black hair, and amber eyes, complemented by light-purple eye shadow which flared backwards. She was wearing a black yukata, with gray and white as a secondary color setup, along with a black bow tied along the top of her head. The girl seemed to be reading a book by a candelabra, which was the reason why the room was a bit brighter now. Tapping Ruby, Pyrrha pointed towards the girl, "Maybe she could be a possible friend?"

Ruby moved her head to see just who exactly Pyrrha was pointing to and gasped, "Oh my gosh. That's the girl who saw what happened this morning with me and Weiss, but left before I could say anything."

"Well, now's your chance!" Yang smiled, grabbing Ruby and pulling her to the mysterious girl.

"…Should we follow them?" Pyrrha asked.

"Mmmmmm…I'm too lazy. I had to get up at 5 in the morning for the damn flight." Natsu grumbled, lying down onto his sleeping bag.

"…But they're staring at you." The red-haired girl pointed out.

Natsu slowly got up and looked to see the two girls staring at him impatiently, as if saying that wherever they went, he went. Sighing to himself, Natsu pushed himself off of the ground as he grumbled, "Starting to regret that compliment I just gave them…" As the salmon-haired boy hobbled over to the two, Pyrrha quickly got up and followed them.

Hearing quite a loud ruckus, the mysterious girl slowly pulled her book downwards to look at the group of people walking over to her. _'Ugh…what does a Faunus have to do around here to get some peace and quiet?'_ She thought to herself.

"Hello!" Yang waved at the girl as she pulled her younger sister along. "I believe you two know each other!"

Getting a closer look at the young petite girl who was dragged over to her, a spark of remembrance ignited inside of the mysterious girl. "Aren't you the girl that exploded?"

Ruby, taking that embarrassing memory as a way to push the conversation along, replied, "Uhh, yeah! My name's Ruby." Afterwards, she held her hand out towards the amber-eyed girl, but the girl merely returned to her book instead. "But, you can just call me…crater…actually you can just call me Ruby." The black and red-haired girl chuckled nervously, scratching the back of her head.

"Okay." The amber-eyed girl responded.

Natsu merely watched as Ruby tried to befriend the obviously antisocial girl and just whispered to them, "Guy's she doesn't want to talk to any of us. Let's just go."

"No, my little Sis needs more friends! Otherwise, she's gonna die a friendless nobody!" Yang whispered back.

"You two know I can hear you both, right?!" Ruby whispered vehemently to both of them.

Pyrrha shook her head as the three then divulged into another argument and tried to pick up the pieces before they ruined whatever shot they had of achieving their original objective. "I see you're reading a book. Seems quite old."

The black-haired girl looked down to stare at her book and stared at the leather-bound, beaten book she was currently reading. Sure, it wasn't the most exciting books that were presently out, but it was far more interesting than the violent, pre-teen drivel that was currently popular. "Yes, it is. I still like it though."

Seeing that the girl was becoming more talkative now, Ruby used this as her chance to score some friendship points with the girl. "What's it about?"

"Huh?" The amber-eyed girl asked, shocked to hear that someone of her age might actually be interested in knowing what she was reading. Usually, the young teens that she saw were reading survivalist, dystopian future genres that covered the shelves in the stores. Perhaps…this was a chance to enlighten at least one young teen… "Well…it's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body."

"Oh yeah…that's real lovely…seems kinda boring to me." Yang muttered, rolling her eyes.

Natsu slightly flinched at hearing those words come out of his friend's mouth.

"I love books. Yang used to read to me every night before bed." Ruby closed her eyes as she remembered those beautiful memories, not knowing that the amber-eyed showed some genuine curiosity now. "Stories of heroes and monsters…they're one of the reasons I want to be a Huntress."

"Why is that? Hoping you'll live happily ever after?" The black-haired girl asked curiously.

"I'm hoping we all will. As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books. Someone who fought for what was right, and who protected people who couldn't protect themselves." The silver-eyed girl responded valiantly, gripping her fist to emphasize her determination to achieve her dream.

Pyrrha smiled as she heard Ruby's words. "That sounds like a beautiful dream, Ruby. I'm sure with that kind of determination that you'll achieve it in no time."

The amber-eyed girl merely chuckled as she heard the young girl's dream. "That's very ambitious for a child. Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale." She responded, her eyes lowering in sadness.

"Now you kinda sound like Natsu over here." Yang said, jabbing her thumb over to the salmon-haired boy.

Natsu just shrugged. "Well, sorry for my blatant cynicism for today's society. Not my fault people constantly live in fear because the Grimm oppress and kill any who stand in their way, while at the same time discriminating Faunus for merely having animal parts. Kinda backs up my point of view, right?"

"Of course not! If people merely understood each other, then there wouldn't be any discrimination in the first place." Pyrrha retorted.

"Okay. Good luck getting an entire species to change their way of thinking in the blink of an eye. People will always force their biases and anger onto another. Just the way life works." The dragon slayer chuckled humorlessly, bitterness evident in his tone.

"Sadly, he's got a point. I have no doubt humans will continue to refuse to accept Faunus in the near future." The amber-eyed girl muttered angrily.

Ruby merely smiled as she heard all of this. "Well that's why we're here…to make it better."

"Ohhh, I'm so proud of my baby sister!" Yang cheered, grabbing Ruby into a bear hug.

"Hrgh! Cut it out!" Ruby yelled, socking Yang in her face; causing the affectionate bear hug to turn into a wrestling match.

"And…now you've met my pals, Ruby and Yang; eternal beings of optimism. Pretty swell, aren't they?" Natsu winked.

The amber-eyed girl lightly chuckled. "Well, it was a pleasure to-"

Loud stomping was suddenly heard echoing throughout the sleeping cafeteria. "What in the world is going on over here!? Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep!?" Weiss growled, her hair down and wearing a faded bluish sleeping gown with short sleeves and white trimmings, and her logo on the upper-right chest. Upon realizing just who she was talking to, she yelled, along with Yang, "Oh not you again!"

"Oh for the love of…it's Mrs. Ice Queen! Lordess of Buzzkill where everyone refuses to have any fun and does not allow anyone else to have any as well. Nice to see you again." Natsu snarked, holding his hand out for a handshake, to which Weiss slapped away. "Ooooo a low five? How lowbrow of you!" The fire mage said with faux shock.

"Grr…that was not a low five! I was merely slapping your hand away from mine, you simpleton!" The heiress retorted.

Natsu stared blankly back at her, while muttering to the rest, "Girls…I think she's in love with me."

Eyes widening in fury, Weiss tried to leap towards the laughing salmon-haired boy in fury, but was held back by Ruby. Pyrrha chuckled as she turned to Yang, "Is he always like this?"

"Pretty much. Word to the wise, if Natsu doesn't have a smile on his face, then something is deeply wrong." Yang said with a grin.

Using all her strength to hold back Weiss, Ruby said to her friends, "Guys, she's right! People are trying to sleep!"

"Oh now you're on my side?" Weiss asked, pulling herself off of the small girl.

"I was always on your side!" Ruby responded, annoyed with how mean Weiss was being.

"Yeah, what's your problem with my sister?" Yang questioned, leaning forward. "She's only trying to be nice!"

"She's a hazard to my health!" The Schnee heiress responded back.

Watching all of this unfold, the amber-eyed girl sighed as she grabbed her candelabra. _'Well, Blake, so much for a quiet night of reading…'_ She then simply blew out the candelabra, evaporating any light left in the room.

"Ahhh darkness!" Ruby yelped.

"Shhhh! People are sleeping, remember?!" Weiss yelled to her.

"Would you all shut up! For fuck's sake, the rest of us are trying to get some sleep!" A random voice shouted.

"YEAH! Shut the hell up over there!" Another voice agreed.

"Would you all please shut the fuck up!"

"Fuck you, asshole! Some of us are trying to jack off over here!"

"AW that's fucking sick!"

"Could you all please stop screaming! Some of us are watching some prime anime over here!"

"Lame!"

"Fuck off! At least, I'm not watching porn!"

"Porn is love! Porn is life!"

"I've got an idea: WHY DON'T YOU ALL SHUT UP!" Yang screamed.

"Hey, screw you, lady!"

"Screw me?! Screw you!" The blonde screamed back. "How abou-"

Natsu quickly closed her mouth and roared back, "Alright! The next person who so much as squeaks is getting their ass kicked. And, whoever is watching porn, go jack off somewhere else!" Afterwards, the dragon slayer dragged the rustling blonde over to their sleeping bags, taking careful measure not to step on anyone. Finally reaching their sleeping bags, Natsu collapsed onto his makeshift bed and closed his eyes. Natsu quickly grabbed his two pillows and leaned his face deeper….wait…two? Opening his eyes, Natsu looked up to see a grinning Yang.

"Comfortable?" She asked, raising her eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

Natsu quickly pushed himself off of her and moved her back to her own bag, to which she responded with a 'boo!' Ignoring her, he saw both Ruby and Pyrrha had not noticed and breathed easy at that. Lying back onto his sleeping bag, the fire mage quickly tried to fall back asleep…but couldn't. Quite a while passed, and he could hear everyone in the cafeteria was fast asleep, except him. _'Here I go again…an adventure with friends that will surely entertain me to no end for years to come…but it'll end up the same won't it?'_

' _ **Yes….'**_

Opening his eyes in fright, Natsu pushed himself upwards. No…he couldn't be hearing _it_ again. It had been years since…no, he didn't want to remember. Never again. Drops of sweat dropped onto his pant legs, his breath heavy, Natsu gripped his head. _'Go away…Go away…Go away…'_

' _ **Always with you…never be alone…'**_

' _I'm not alone… not anymore!'_

' _ **But you will be…only a matter of time…time'**_

' _Shut up! Shut up! I don't want you…I don't need you!'_

'… _ **am you…always be you…'**_

Natsu shook his head back and forth and opened his eyes. Moving his head back to where that mysterious girl was sitting, he could hear that she was fast asleep. The dragon slayer quickly got up and tiptoed to her. As he arrived to where she was, he looked down to see the book that she was reading. _'Two souls…each fighting for control…which is it? Which is the true soul? And which is the fake?'_ Gritting his teeth in frustration, Natsu turned away and quickly walked into the bathroom that he had previously used to change. The dragon slayer moved towards the mirror that was above one of the sinks. He approached it slowly and looked at himself, "I-It's okay…you're you. You'll always be you…no matter what." He chuckled to himself, grinning wildly. "It's gonna be ok! You're you…not _it_! Haha…hahaha…" Shaking his head, Natsu turned on the sink and splashed some water onto his face. This was crazy…obviously he was so tired from sleep that he was imagining the voice. Of course…it was so simple. After he turned off the sink, Natsu unwrapped the scarf from his head and used it to dry his face. As the scarf dropped to his face, Natsu looked at the mirror again to-

" _ **Hello."**_ The demon greeted, smiling malevolently at the salmon-haired boy; shoving its fiery claws to choke the boy.

"AHHHHH!" Natsu jolted upwards, moving his head wildly to see that he was lying on his sleeping bag still. He was asleep…a dream…only a dream. It had felt so real…so real. Tears dripped from the sides of Natsu's eyes as he lay back down. Real… _it_ was growing, wasn't it? The darkness…was still growing.

 **AAAAAAAAAAAND THAT'S A WRAP! Whoo boy…finished with chapter 3! I don't know about you, but I like this chapter. Although, it was hella hard because I was juggling so many characters at once. Hopefully, I get better at it as time goes on. *Shrugs* I'm sure I will. Anyways, YEESH Natsu has some issues. *Chuckles evilly* Yes…yes he does. As for how or what or why…all will be revealed in due time. Have no fear.**

 **Also, I just wanted to ask you guys, should I add Glynda and Winter? If I did, I would have to spend A HELL of a lot of time to give them a personality. Not much is known about them so…I'd have a lot to do for them, but I'd be up to the challenge. Older woman would be interesting to add…*thinks about Raven*…oh fuck, if she ever found about Yang having a crush on Natsu, well she'd probably rip his skull through his teeth. Or…well she'd certainly try anyways. Seriously though, Glynda? Winter? Give me your thoughts! Again too, Pyrrha's poll is on my profile so please vote because I will be taking it down soon enough!**

 **So, if you enjoyed this story, please favorite, follow, and REVIEW!**


	4. Chapter 4

**HELLO AGAIN! I'm back with an all new chapter once again and I am pumped! Again, I'd love to thank all the people who have been supporting me by favoriting, following, and leaving reviews. It really helps inspire me to write more chapters. So, I've also noticed that people are split on the whole "should I add Glynda, Winter, Raven, etc…" and I understand why. I'll get more into it at the end of the chapter. For now…LET US BEGIN!**

 **Disclaimer: In the first chapter. I also do not own anything Disney related.**

Hot water beaded down onto Natsu's back as he stared down at the bathroom floor. Sleep didn't come easy to the young lad last night. The dragon slayer had spent a big chunk of his night tossing and turning throughout the night until he eventually fell asleep about a couple of hours before the alarm rang, signaling the kids that the initiation would start very soon. Everyone moved at their own pace to roll up their sleeping bags and head towards the showers to clean up. Natsu's friends noticed the tiredness in his eyes and questioned him about it, but he merely brushed it off. It took him a while to calm them down as they all waited for their turn in the showers, however, Natsu was able to elude them by quickly rushing into the bathroom as soon as he was next. Raising his head to allow the water to hit his face, Natsu reveled in the heat that the water poured onto him. The clock was ticking…soon enough the initiation would begin and the salmon-haired boy would be forced into a life filled with heroes and monsters. The only question remained though…

' _Which am I…'_

Turning off the shower, the dragon slayer sighed as he walked out of the shower, grabbing his towel to wrap around his lower half. After about 15 minutes, Natsu was dressed and exited the shower room to head to where the sinks were. As he neared the room, he spotted two peculiar individuals talking to each other; a male teenager with long black hair tied into a ponytail that ended midway down his back. There was a magenta streak on the left side of his hair. Strangely, his eyes matched the streak in his hair as well. He wore a dark green, diagonally-buttoned, long-sleeved tailcoat that is red on the inside, with black and gold trimming and pink cuffs. The trimming went down the right side of his torso and formed a black collar. The other person, who for some reason was the only one talking, was a female who had short orange hair and turquoise eyes. Her clothing was a mix and match of some sort, with different colors and themes. She wore a collared black vest that ends at her waist. Her signature emblem, a hammer with a lightning bolt, was found on the back. Under the vest were two layers of clothing, colored red and light-blue respectively. She also wore a white sleeveless top that formed a tiny heart shape between her cleavage and collarbone, with a white detached sleeve on each arm. She wore matching fingerless gloves on each hand. The girl also sported a pink skirt that started at the waist and ended mid-thigh. Her shoes were a mix of pink and white with pink laces, displaying her emblem on their soles. The poor guy seemed to be doing his own thing as the girl continued rambling, "I can't believe we've been at Beacon for a full 24 hours! Not that I thought we'd get kicked out or anything. I mean, you're the perfect student and I'm, well, I'm me! But it's just crazy, you know? We've been friends for soooooooo long."

The male teen immediately spit out the remaining toothpaste in his mouth and shoved some water to gargle it in order to swish around the rest of the toothpaste. After spitting out the water, the boy wiped his mouth with a paper towel and threw it away. Once he was finished, he packed up his bathroom essentials and began walking away, with his friend close at hand. Natsu just watched with a small smile at the girl's high energy and turned to see his reflection in the mirror with a smile. His eyes then quickly turned away before _it_ would return. Sure, last night was merely a dream, but it still had felt so real…who's to say this all wasn't a dream? Frowning sadly, Natsu sighed as he brushed his teeth, making carefully sure not to so much as glance at the mirror. Even then though…he could still feel like he was being watched…

As he exited the bathroom, his eyes roamed to look for his friends amongst the crowd, but couldn't find them. Perhaps they were still washing themselves in the showers. A blush appeared on Natsu's cheeks as he imagined that particular scene and shook his head. He didn't want to start becoming a pervert now! Natsu took a tremendous sigh once again as he stared at all the people amongst the crowd. _'Dead…dead…dead…you'll all be dead soon enough. I'm sure most of you probably have hopes of being some kind of legend amongst your peers, but you won't last a day out there. You're all too soft for this world. I've seen it…the monsters that plague this land. They have no mercy in their hearts…after all, they have no souls so why would they? Dead…dead…dead…de-'_ Right then, a sudden voice called out to the dragon slayer.

"Hey, Natsu! Boy, am I glad to see you! I've been looking for everyone, but I haven't found hide or hair of them." Jaune said, running up to meet up with the salmon-haired boy.

Sighing one last time, Natsu forced another grin on his face as he turned around to face the naïve blonde teen. _'Dead…you'll be dead too…'_ "Hey, Jauney boy, what's up? So, you haven't found the girls either huh? I've been looking for them myself too, but I can't find them. Any other idea where they could be?"

The blonde Huntsman scratched his head in thought as he tried to recall something important he heard earlier. "Well, I remember hearing that we're supposed to head up to meet the Headmaster at the top of this really tall hill. But, that's not for another hour or so. For now, I hear they're serving breakfast in the cafeteria."

Natsu's eyes widened, his mouth watering at the prospect of free food and his mind forgetting about searching for his friends. After all, they'd find him soon enough anyways. They were always good at finding him. Plus, with his heightened senses, it'd be a breeze to find them, so there was no need to panic. Wrapping his arm around the lanky blonde, Natsu shouted, "Before we go and slay some monsters, we dine! Come, Jaune, tonight we feast upon the future deaths of our enemies!"

"Y-You really think we're going to be k-killing anything today?" Jaune gulped nervously.

Natsu could tell the boy was nervous and tried to remedy the situation before that nervousness got him killed. The last thing he wanted was to find his cold, decaying…Natsu quickly shook his head. ' _Happy thoughts…happy thoughts…'_ "Come on, relax! Everything we'll be fine. The key is confidence! Think about it like…the way you were talking to Weiss last night. Now, she's a scary beast with soulless dead eyes, and you easily talked to her no sweat! So…just think of it like that!" The dragon slayer said, clapping Jaune's shoulder in a friendly manner.

Jaune merely looked at him strangely. "So…you want me to flirt with the Grimm?"

Opening his mouth to respond, Natsu thought about what he had just said and shook his head. "Yeah…that's not such good advice. What I basically meant was, apply that kind of confidence onto the battlefield. Even though you're fighting a lost cause, keep on going…no matter what." The dragon slayer said with a strained smile. _'Come on…no grim thoughts. Happy thoughts…happy thoughts…'_

"W-Wait, you think Weiss and I are a lost cause?!" The blonde teen asked.

Natsu just slapped his face as he pushed open the door to the cafeteria. "You were really focusing on the wrong thing there, Jaune." As the two entered into the cafeteria, they entered the long line that would eventually lead them to the buffet of glorious food. The dragon slayer's mouth watered as he began placing pounds and pounds of assorted breakfast items onto his tray. All the while with Jaune, and various other people looking at him strangely. Soon after, the two began searching for a table and saw a nearly vacant one with the same two individuals in the bathroom he had seen. The two walked over and placed their trays on top of the table as they sat down. Both the female with orange hair and male with black hair with magenta streaks were conversing with one another, or at least the female was talking nonstop and strangely enough seemed to be on somewhat the same topic she was on when the two were in the bathroom together, and looked to see new people at their table.

The orange-haired girl slapped her hands on the table as she pointed towards Natsu's hair. "Pink!"

"Salmon! For fuck's sakes, do I have to wear a damn sigh around my neck that says, 'I have salmon hair, assholes!' Because I'll do it if I have to!" Natsu growled, biting off a chunk of the tower of pancakes he had forced onto his tray.

"No, pink! I remember you from the auditorium yesterday! Oh man, your act with Professor Ozpin was hilarious! You would have heard me laughing, but Ol' Sourpuss Ren here was afraid we'd get in trouble. But hey, we're still here! So hell yeah!" The orange-haired girl shouted, raising her hands in triumph.

Ren, whom was merely enjoying his breakfast meal, sighed as he put down his fork and knife in order to properly converse with the two strangers. "Well, as Nora, whom I've sure you've noticed has a motor for a mouth, said before, my name is Ren. Pleasure to meet the both of you." He smiled with a nod.

Jaune reciprocated the smile as he nodded back. "Hey, my name's Jaune. This here is Natsu. We just met the other day, but it seems like you two have known each other for quite a while. Where did you two come from?"

"Oh pshh that's an easy one. We come from where everybody comes from. Our mommy's bellies! Duh!" Nora chuckled, stuffing some more pancakes into her mouth.

Natsu and Jaune exchanged awkward glances with each other as they smiled at the pair. "O-Oh yeah….I've been there myself. My mom's belly! N-Not yours! J-Just…help me." The blonde Huntsman whispered to the dragon slayer.

Sighing to himself, Natsu introduced himself, "Hi, Natsu Dragneel speaking, I hail from Patch and I was sort of guilt tripped into becoming a student here. The end. Nice to meetcha."

"Ooooooo nice and sweet…like these pancakes. I love it!" Nora growled, devouring even more of the pancakes on her plate.

"Don't mind her. She's…always been like this since th-" Ren started to speak until Nora slammed her fists onto the table.

"WAIT! Did you say, Patch! Like the Patch. Like the Patch that houses the terrifying Grimm King?! Oh my gosh, I'm surprised you're alive! Legend has it that he kills all who reside within his territory…and that he doesn't wash his hands! Pure evil!" The orange-haired teenager screamed with an diabolical laugh, and then resuming her devouring of her pancakes.

"I'm sorry the what now?" Jaune asked, scratching his head.

Ren sighed, "Just an urban legend. Some people, like Nora, believe that an almost human-like Grimm stalks the shadows of the island of Patch. But there has been no evidence that he exists. Just hearsay and rumors."

Nora blew him off with a huff, "Oh don't listen to Mr. Pragmatic over here. He doesn't even believe in those little pixies that steal underpants!"

"Nora…I keep telling you that you yourself threw those underpants away." Ren deadpanned.

"Nonsense! I would know if I…oh wait I did. But I still believe in them nonetheless!" She screamed.

"S-So wait…you mean, Humans can become Gri-" Jaune began until he was interrupted.

"Listen, I've lived in Patch and I have never seen the Grimm King before! It's all lies, ok? So can we just eat in peace now?!" Natsu growled, lowering his head to chew on some of his pancakes. The three teenagers were taken aback at the boy's sudden outburst and quietly went back to eating their breakfast. The dragon slayer lightly sighed as he saw the dejected looks on their faces and quickly apologized, "…I'm sorry. That was rude of me. I...I shouldn't have yelled at you three."

Jaune patted the salmon-haired boy on the back. "Nah…it's cool. You're probably just jittery like the rest of us here…or maybe just me." He whimpered.

"Relax, Jaune, everything will be fine. If anything goes wrong, Professor Ozpin will surely intervene before anyone gets hurt." Ren assured the blonde Huntsman.

Jaune then blew out a sigh of relief from the Chinese teen's comforting words until Nora destroyed any hopes he had created for himself. "Well, that's unless we get lost in the forest! I've heard people whispering that we're going into a Grimm infested forest just filled with all kinds of dangerous creatures…sounds fun, huh?" Nora grinned wildly, slurping her last pancake into her mouth.

"…Hold me." Jaune whispered, latching onto Natsu.

"Would you get off of me!" Natsu yelled, pushing Jaune off of him. "Ugh…listen Jaune, if worst comes to worst, I'll try to find you and we'll work together, ok?"

"But how are you going to find me in a freaking dense forest just filled with killer Grimm?!" Jaune exclaimed, lowering his head onto the table in dejection.

Natsu simply tapped his nose. "Simple. The nose knows."

"Oooooo I know what you mean! Sometimes my nose talks to me when I sleep. Ren tells me all the time." Nora smiled, rubbing her nose in affection.

"…That's snoring, Nora." Ren deadpanned.

* * *

After the four finished their food, an alarm went off that signaled that it was finally time to grab their gear for their initiation. They then were herded inside to lockers that housed their gear and were told that they their initiation would begin at the top of the hill in 30 minutes. Ren and Nora departed from Natsu and Jaune's company to retrieve their weapons, while Nora began devising a scheme in order for both Ren and her to find each other within the forest. "I know! We'll have some sort of signal! Like a distress signal! *Gasps* A secret signal so we can find each other in the forest! Can you imitate a sloth?" She asked, poking her finger into Ren's cheek.

"Nora…" Ren said, readying his pair of green automatic pistols which had blades attached to them, named StormFlower.

"Yes, Ren?" Nora responded, tilting her head innocently.

Ren then clicked a button, forcing his pistols to contract back into their smaller form and clicked them into his sleeves. "I don't think sloths make a lot of noise."

Nora quickly moved her eyes back in forth with a forced grin. _'Drat! He's right…at least I think he is. Aww who am I kidding? Of course he's right! He's Ren! Quick! Gotta make him think that was all part of my plan!'_ "That's why it's perfect! No one will suspect we're working together."

"Umm…we will!" Natsu screamed at the two, getting both Nora and Ren's attention and making the poor orange-haired girl realize that they were merely centimeters away from the salmon-haired, along with a blonde-haired girl and a girl with black and red hair. He immediately waved at them in return. "You…were kinda screaming the entire time…so yeah."

Nora slammed her head against her locker with a groan as Ren patted her on the back. "Oh great…"

Natsu lightly patted the girl on the back with a wink." Don't worry, secret's safe with me."

The orange-haired hammer wielder immediately perked back up. "Hooray! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!" She screamed, hugging the life out of the salmon-haired boy.

"HRGH!...too tight." The fire mage squeaked, feeling his very life being sapped from him.

Ren, in an act to save the poor boy's life, tapped Nora's shoulder to signal her it was time to leave. "Come on, Nora. It's time to go." Nora then immediately released Natsu and gave him a light pat on the head as she skipped along with Ren towards their designated destination.

Natsu slowly picked himself up and sat himself down on the bench adjacent to him. "Ugh…why am I meeting all the crazy ones at this school?" He mumbled, laying himself down onto the bench.

"Well, look on the bright side, if you befriend all the crazy ones at school, then that means that any friend of yours is automatically a friend of mine!" Ruby giggled, grabbing her beloved Crescent Rose from her locker.

"That's a bright side for you!" Natsu groaned, slapping his hands to his face.

Yang, in an effort to shut the boy up, quickly sat her firm tush onto Natsu's toned stomach, causing him to groan as he fought to wrestle her body off of his. "Relax! Live a little! You've been down in the dumps since we got here. Why can't you be more like me?"

"By what, flaunting my cleavage everywhere?" Natsu mumbled, receiving a punch to the gut from an irritated blonde. "HRGH! Owwww…why?"

"I'm sorry did you say something?" Yang smiled, giving off an aura of malevolence if Natsu said even one word out of line.

"…N-Nothing." The dragon slayer muttered, sitting back up and sliding over to have Ruby in front of him.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." The blonde Huntress grinned. She then turned to see Ruby lightly hopping with Crescent Rose in her hands as she hummed to herself. "So, Ruby, you seem awfully chipper this morning. What gives?"

"Yep! No more awkward small talk for me or "getting to know you" stuff. Today I get to let my sweetheart do the talking." Ruby smiled, petting her beloved weapon in an affectionate manner.

"Awww thanks, Ruby!" Natsu teased, patting the girl on the head.

"*GASP* HOW DID YOU KNOW?!" The cloaked girl screamed, turning to him with a shocked look. Seeing the salmon-haired boy give her a bewildered look, she looked to her sister, who mouthed "sarcasm" with a deadpan stare, and immediately tried to play off her strange outburst as a joke. "I-I mean, hahahaha I got you! Hahaha…I'm funny." She mumbled, retreating back into her locker and pretended to grab more of her things.

Rolling her eyes, Yang crossed her arms under her developed chest, hoping "someone" would notice (and he did), and stared at her sister. "Well, remember Ruby, you're not the only one going through initiation. If you want to grow up, you're going to have to meet new people and learn to work together."

Ruby rolled her eyes in an irritated manner as she came back out of her locker to look at her sister. "Uuuuuuugh, you sound like Dad! " She growled. "Ok, first of all what does meeting people have to do with fighting? And secondly, I don't need people to help me grow up. I drink milk." The hooded girl said, crossing her arms under her underdeveloped chest, hoping "someone" would notice (and he also did).

Natsu, shaking his head and forced his stupid hormonal thoughts out of his head, took a nice seat on the bench and tried to catch some Zzz's before the initiation began. Not like he got any last night…

"But what about when we form teams?" Yang asked with a shrug.

Ruby looked away as she tried to come up with an excuse for that. "Uh, I don't know, I'll just be on your or Natsu's team or something…" She mumbled with a nervous look.

Yang placed her hands on her hips as she stared at her younger sister. Would it be totally fun for herself, her sister, and Natsu to be on the same team together? Totally! But her younger sister had to start putting herself out there more. Otherwise, when the time came when Ruby had to start taking individual missions, the poor girl would probably collapse within herself. Not to mention…if something came to harm her. Her eyes lightly turning red at the concept, Yang quickly took a couple deep breaths to calm herself before continuing, "Maybe you should try being on someone else's team?" Stroking her hair as she looked away awkwardly.

"Oooooo you're in trouble…" Natsu grinned with his eyes closed, lying on his side on the bench.

"Shut up!" Yang growled back at him.

"My dearest sister Yang, are you implying that you do not wish to be on the same team as me?" Ruby asked with an inquisitive glare, poking her sister's developed chest in the process, which infuriated her even more.

"Yes…" A shrill, feminine voice uttered.

"*Gasp* I knew it!" Ruby screamed, covering her eyes in despair.

"Oh come on, that was Natsu! Damn it, that doesn't even sound like me, you salmon douchebag!" The blonde Huntress glared at the grinning dragon slayer.

"Sounds good to me if it fooled yo-UFF!" Natsu grunted, as he received a kick to the gut courtesy of the same irritated blonde. "Ugg…same place."

Removing her glaring eyes from the salmon-haired boy, Yang returned her gaze back to her younger sister. "L-Listen, Ruby, of course I do, I just thought…I don't know, maybe it would help you break out of your shell!"

"What the?!" Ruby shrieked, moving her body in a shocked manner. "I don't need to break out of my shell, that's absolutely-"

"-Ridiculous! There's no way I put my gear in locker 636 yesterday." Jaune mumbled to himself as he slowly walked past the two sister's conversation. Sighing to himself, Natsu slowly edged himself out of the sister's conversation, and luckily for him they were too wrapped up in it to notice him leaving, and followed the confused blonde boy. "I would've remembered having to count that high! Ugh, why does this have to happen today?" He bemoaned to himself.

Natsu grabbed the boy by his shoulder and looked at the paper. "Relax, Jaune, relax." The dragon slayer lightly ignited his hands and rubbed the boy's shoulders in a comforting manner, causing the blonde Huntsman to lightly moan at the feeling of contentment warm inside of him. "See, feeling better. Come on, let's get those jitters out, ok?" Natsu smiled, hopping up and down. "Come on, do what I'm doing!"

Jaune, looking at the boy strangely, shrugged his shoulders and thought what did he have to lose and repeated what the dragon slayer was doing. His armor slowly began to weigh on him at the repeated jumping and stopped to catch a breath. "H-Hold on…ugh, l-let me just rest for a couple of minutes." Lowering himself to sit on the bench next to him, Jaune began to catch his breath.

Natsu just sighed as he saw just how weak the boy was. _'He's not gonna last…is he?'_

' _ **No…'**_

Gritting his teeth, Natsu rapidly turned around and looked everywhere in a frightened manner. _'Stop talking…go away!'_ No response was given afterwards and Natsu tried to calm himself down. _'S-Stop it! You're just going crazy now! No one is talking to you, ok? It isn't talking to you, ok? Just…calm down. Now, Jaune is going to get through this, ok? We're gonna make sure him, and everyone else gets through this. Ok now…wait, where did he go?'_ The dragon slayer moved his head to look at where the Jaune had previously been, but found a now vacant spot on the bench. Looking around to find him, Natsu deadpanned as he saw once again the poor blonde was trying to flirt with the white-haired she-devil. _'More like Schnee-devil hehehe…'_ He grinned to himself as he began walking to the where the two were, along with what seemed to be Pyrrha trying to talk to the blonde-haired boy.

"You know what else is great? Me, Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you." Jaune smiled, poking his thumb at himself with a sense of male bravado.

"You again?" Weiss glared, crossing her arm irritatingly.

Pyrrha quickly tried to use this to her advantage so she could make another friend at Beacon. She already had Ruby, Yang, Weiss, and Natsu. Perhaps Jaune could be another one! "Nice to meet you, Jaune." The scarlet-haired Huntress introduced herself once again to the blonde-haired boy, only to be pushed aside from him. For some reason…Natsu got the sudden urge to choke the hell out of his blonde-haired comrade for that stupid decision. Sliding himself to catch the poor girl in her stumbling, Pyrrha's face lit up as she saw another one of her friends in front of her. She gave him a light embarrassed wave, to which he wholeheartedly returned back with a wink as well.

"Yeah, yeah. So, Weiss! Couldn't help but notice the sideward glances you've been giving me. " Jaune grinned, flexing his right forearm.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me. Where oh where did you get that idea from?" The Schnee, pinching the bridge of her nose while asking the blonde-haired simpleton, receiving a gesture over to a grinning salmon-haired dolt. "Hrgh…you again. Of course…where else would a simpleton get such an idea from?"

"Heya, Schnee-devil. You mind if I call you that? I kinda like the nickname. Pyrrha, what do you think?" The dragon slayer asked the red-haired warrior with a smile.

"W-Well, while I don't approve of the…insulting nature of it, I will say that…it is particularly inventive of you." Pyrrha stuttered, hoping her neutral answer would suffice.

Weiss gritted her teeth in irritation at her idol being duped by the stupid, pink-haired…oh how she loathed him!

"Don't worry, no need to be embarrassed! So, been hearin' rumors about team! I was thinking you and me would make a good one. What do you say?" Jaune asked with a hopeful smile.

"Actually, I think the teams are comprised of four students each, so-" Pyrrha began before she was interrupted.

Finally noticing Pyrrha's existence, Jaune quickly slid himself closer, causing the dragon slayer to roll his eyes with a laugh at his friend for finally noticing her. "You don't say. Well, hotstuff, play your cards right and maybe you could join up with the winning team."

"Hey, I thought I was hotstuff?" Natsu teased, getting a look of shock from the blonde haired Huntsman.

Jaune quickly sidestepped to grab the grinning dragon slayer and whispered in his ear, "What are you doing?"

"Trolling you. Kinda my thing." Natsu replied.

"Well, kinda unmake it your thing! I'm trying to make my last moments on this Earth memorable so just…come on!" The blonde male whined. Natsu rolled his eyes and nodded to him, telling him that he would let these "flirtations" go on. Not like they were working anyways…

Before Jaune could slide back into his conversation with Pyrrha, Weiss quickly stepped in to block the way. "Jaune, is it? Do you have any idea who you are talking to?" She asked with an incredulous gaze.

"Not in the slightest, Snow Angel." Jaune said, leaning in closer towards the two beautiful women.

"Baha! Sorry…sorry. I know I said I would stop, but…come on, Snow Angel?" Natsu asked, unable to contain the laughter that exuded from his body.

Ignoring him, Weiss went on, "This is Pyrrha."

"Hello again." Pyrrha waved at the two males.

"Gee…you're really smart, ain't cha! I never would have figured out that…her." Natsu pointed to Pyrrha. "Was Pyrrha! I mean, shit, I must be a freaking idiot for not seeing it before, but please forgive me, Pyrrha. According to this Schnee-Devil, I, along with Jaune, are far too stupid to remember your name. Please, please forgive us." The dragon slayer said with faux woe.

Pyrrha reached out to console the despondent salmon-haired boy, thinking that he was in pain, but was slapped away by Weiss's hand. "Oh come on! He's just being facetious!"

"What?" Jaune asked.

"Sarcastic." Weiss replied.

Jaune just kept staring at her with a blank stare.

"Natsu is lying about being sad!" The heiress growled.

"Ohhh…I knew that!" The blonde male nodded, eliciting a snicker from the dragon slayer, causing Jaune to elbow him with a grin of his own.

Recomposing herself, Weiss continued, "Hrgh…anyways, Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum."

"Never heard of it." Jaune responded.

Rubbing his chin, Natsu said, "Yeah…sounds like some kind of religious location. I bet it's not even a real place!" He then shouted, pointing straight at the Schnee heiress.

"It is a real place, you dolts!" Weiss snarled, stomping her foot in irritation.

"I-It actually is." Pyrrha intervened, making sure no one began to tear anyone's eyes out. From the looks of it, Weiss was nearing that stage.

"Oh okay…we trust you, Pyrrha." Natsu smiled, growing larger at the glare the white-haired girl was giving him. _'Oh…this it too easy.'_

Pyrrha smiled at hearing that her new friend was beginning to trust her, and from the looks of it, neither of the two seemed to be changing their opinions of her even after learning all this information about her. Hopefully it would stay that way…just as long as she doesn't mention anything else…

"Not only that, but she's won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row…A new record!" Weiss continued, to the internal dismay of Pyrrha.

"The what?" Jaune asked, raising his eyebrows confusingly.

Natsu patted the blonde male's armored shoulder. "Never change, Jaune. Damn it, never change."

' _Oh my gosh! Do I really have to simplify everything for these damn….UGH!'_ "She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!" The heiress snapped, throwing her arms into a fit rapidly after finally having enough.

Natsu gasped and rapidly tapped Jaune's shoulder at this revelation. "Oh my-I knew she looked familiar! I just…I couldn't put my finger on it!"

Jaune clapped his hands together in fascination at this revelation as well. "Oh my gosh, you're right! I couldn't put my finger on it too, but it's her! Oh my gosh, they only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!"

' _Of course, that's what they focus on!'_ Weiss rolled her eyes.

Pyrrha looked away embarrassedly while shifting her feet awkwardly at the attention her friends were giving her. "Yeah, it was pretty cool. Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you."

"Who cares! I used to eat you every day!" Natsu yelled, causing the entire locker room to hear what he said.

Jaune dropped his jaw.

Weiss widened her eyes in shock.

Pyrrha blushed incredibly at that image.

"WHAT?!" Yang screamed, being pulled out of her argument with Ruby.

"Ewww gross…you ate her? Eww…what does that even mean?" Ruby asked herself, scratching her head.

Finally realizing what he said, Natsu quickly tried to rectify the situation. "W-Wait! Ok, that was SO not what I meant! I-I meant, that I used to eat her…C-CEREAL! HER CEREAL! Not h-her! O-Okay?! This is not to be misconstrued as cannibalism or a-anything sexual! C-Can everyone just stop staring at me now, please?" Natsu begged, the thought of Natsu "eating" Pyrrha still fresh in everyone's mind, but still everybody decided to move on.

Weiss finally pulled her eyes off of the man who claimed to have "eaten" Pyrrha and stuttered, "A-Anyway, so, after hearing all of this, "eating" Pyrrha aside…" Weiss inwardly smiled at hearing the dragon slayer groan again. _'Oh payback is a bitch, isn't it? Not letting this one go anytime soon.'_ "Do you really think either of you are in a position to ask her to be on your team?" The Schnee asked, not seeing the dismayed face the red-haired warrior was making at the thought of either of her two friends agreeing to that.

To her horror, Jaune did. "I…I guess not." He said, his shoulders slumped in woe and turning to walk away until Natsu stopped him.

"HOLD ON! Just you wait a minute, you blonde-haired social ball of awkwardness!" Natsu shouted.

"Hey!" Ruby shouted back.

"I said BLONDE, Ruby!" The dragon slayer yelled back to her.

"Ooops… my bad!" She replied with a wave.

"Ugh, anyways, you just stop right there! Now, let's think about this for a second. Where…in the ACTUAL FUCK does it say in the rulebook of life that people are not allowed to mingle with people of a higher stature? I'm sorry…but am I not a person? Is Jaune not a person? Nor Pyrrha? As people, we crave connections with people, and you you damn Schnee-Devil, are not only ruining our chance to befriend a beautiful creature such a Pyrrha, but you as well. Now, I don't know you. Nor do I want to now because of the awful way you keep treating us…well I could honestly give a shit about the way you treat me, but you are not allowed to force either Pyrrha or Jaune on how to live their lives! If you wanna boss someone around, then boss me around! Just know this…I…AM…A…SHITTY…LISTENER!" Natsu said, staring straight down into the heiress' eyes.

"I...I wasn't trying t-to-" Weiss stuttered, but stopped. _'What is his problem? I was just looking out for Pyrrha. If she stuck around with the likes of them, then surely her abilities would lessen. Surely that is justification enough to…boss around another person?'_ Wow…that actually sounds…kinda bitchy now that she thought about it. _'Oh my gosh…have I always been like this? Is that why…I don't have any friends? N-No, it can't be! Surely…surely I have one! There's…no Janet mysteriously changed schools in elementary. Well there was…no Michelle stopped returning my calls a couple of years ago. Oh! Veronica! Veronica was her…older sister's friend. My goodness…what is wrong with me?'_ Her eyes glued to the floor, her mind revealing all the horrible things she must have done either knowingly or unknowingly to people…horrified her to her core.

Pyrrha, seeing Jaune being comforted by the salmon-haired boy, immediately piggy-backed on his efforts. Putting her hand on his shoulder, Pyrrha continued to console the blonde male, "Jaune, I think you'd make a great leader."

Feeling his spirits lifted, Jaune immediately perked up. "D'ohh stop it!"

Natsu smiled at seeing Jaune quickly cast off his woes, he turned back to the Schnee heiress. "Isn't there something you'd like to say?"

Weiss lifted her eyes to see the boy's gaze atop hers. What should she apologize…oh yeah. "J-Jaune…."

"Yes, Snow Angel?" Jaune asked, hope beginning to fill his mind again.

"Don't push it." Weiss growled.

"Sorry." Jaune responded.

"I…I-I…I'm s-sorr-ssorr…s-sor-" Weiss tried to apologize until she was interrupted.

"Oh for the love of…have you ever apologized to anyone before?" Natsu asked incredulously.

"S-Shut up! This is hard for me. …*sigh* Jaune…I'm sorry." A huge gust of air blew out of her mouth as she apologized. Wow…that actually felt pretty good.

"Ahhh apology accepted!" Jaune yelled happily.

"And?" The dragon slayer said, pointing to Pyrrha.

"And I'm sorry, Pyrrha. I…I shouldn't have tried to control who you make friends with. I…really need to work on that." Weiss apologized.

"And?" Natsu asked, pointing at Ruby from across the room.

"Hrgh…I'm sorry, Ruby for being mean to you." Weiss called out to the hooded girl, grunting as she felt the petite girl sprint to her to give her a hug.

"Apology accepted, friend!" Ruby yelled happily, pushing her body deeper into Weiss'.

"How about we not push it?" The heiress asked, until she saw a questioning gaze from the fire mage and puppy dog look from Ruby. "Ugh, fine…how about we start off as acquaintances first then?"

Ruby jumped up in glee as she heard that. "YAY! Acquaintances!"

"…You have no idea what that is, do you?" Weiss asked with a deadpan stare.

"Nope! But if it's like a friend, then I like it!" The cloaked girl giggled, eliciting a roll of the eyes from Weiss.

"…And?" Natsu again asked with a grin.

"Oh who do I need to apologize to now?!" Weiss asked angrily, getting a simultaneous pointed finger towards the dragon slayer by, surprisingly, everyone in the room. Sighing to herself, she stomped her foot and stared upwards at the salmon-haired boy. "Fine…but if I hear one word-"

Natsu simply moved his fingers over his lips in a 'my lips are sealed' gesture

"Ugh…okay. I...I…I'm sorrrrrrrrrr…..I really hate you." Weiss muttered.

"Apology accepted! P.S. I love you too." Natsu whispered back, eliciting an embarrassing flush from the white-haired girl as she began to chase the salmon-haired man throughout the locker room. "Haha told ya she loved me! Haha..H-hey, Weiss, no using your weapon!" Natsu shrieked as she pulled out Myrtlemaster. "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Natsu screamed as explosions of dust hailed throughout the locker room.

"Wow…you know something tells me things are gonna be a heck of a lot more interesting with him in this school." Jaune mumbled, getting a nod from everyone in the locker room.

* * *

Atop a high hill, several students stood on several platforms just waiting to for their initiation to begin…what adventures would spring forth from this group of people? What relationships would be forged within chaos of battle? What consequences would be created from the actions of both heroes and monsters? What…was Ozpin drinking out of because seriously that was bugging the hell out of me…err…Natsu.

Taking another sip out of his mug, Ozpin began, "For years you have trained to become warriors. And today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

"Haha I'm sorry, Emerald Forest? That's not scary. You expect us to be like, 'Oh fuck! We're going into the Emerald Forest where certainly we'll be devoured by…green gemstones! Ahhhhhhhh!' …pshh please." Natsu chuckled.

Smiling to himself, Ozpin asked, "You always have something to say, don't you?"

Natsu shrugged. "Kinda have to. No one else is talking. Seems kind of weird, dont'cha think?"

"Well, Mr. Dragneel, looks can be quite deceiving…now can't they?" Ozpin retorted.

Natsu's grin vanished at the mysterious look on his face and opened his mouth to question him before…

"Ahem!" Glynda coughed.

"Hehe whoops, my bad, bosslady! BTW, I'd just like to apologize for-" Natsu began before Glynda raised a hand to stop the boy in his tracks.

"One more word, and I will personally push the button that causes you to-"

"Glynda…." Ozpin sighed.

"Ahem. S-Sorry, Professor Ozpin." Glynda apologized.

"It's okay, Glynda. You can continue if you wish. Just try not to threaten the students." Ozpin smiled.

"Of course, sir. Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates…Today." Glynda stated.

"What?" Ruby asked, making scared noises within her voice.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." Ozpin continued.

Ruby whimpered at hearing that, which caused Natsu to lean over and pat the girl's head affectionately, which she appreciated tremendously.

Ozpin noted the sign of affection and made a note of that for later, making sure to count the heads of the students who were up here. _'An odd number…I see.'_ Noting that for later, Ozpin continued once again, "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

"What?!" Ruby screamed.

"Oh so lame! What if I get paired up with some asshole! I mean, fuck, I don't wanna be paired up some kinda dickface for the rest of my stay at this godforsaken hellhole!" Natsu yelled, kneeling down in a fit of despair.

"…Are you done?" Ozpin asked, taking a sip of his unknown liquid once again.

"…Yeah, why not?" Natsu shrugged, hopping back up onto his feet. _'Worst comes worst, I'll just lie…'_

"And, if anyone decides to say…lie about who they make eye contact with, then I just want to tell you know that there are cameras layered throughout the forest that will help us keep an eye on you." Ozpin smiled.

"….FUCK! FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! You mother-" Natsu bellowed until he was stopped by another shout.

"Mr. Dragneel!" Glynda shouted back at him.

"Sorry, sorry! Just…fuck sorry. My bad, just…had to get that out." The dragon slayer muttered, kicking a nearby rock.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die" Ozpin said with a foreboding tone, causing poor Jaune and Ruby to chuckle nervously.

' _ **Blood…Destroy…Die…'**_

' _Shut up…shut up…'_

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation. But our instructors will not intervene." Ozpin told the class.

"Oooooooo…looks like you were wrong, Ren! Haha!" Nora laughed, sticking her tongue at her friend.

' _Great…more fodder for Nora to make fun of me for.'_ Ren thought to himself.

"You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one, and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately." Ozpin said, getting awkward glances from both Ruby and Jaune. "Are there any questions?" He asked.

"Yeah! U-Um sir-" Jaune raised his hand.

"Good! Now, take your positions." Ozpin continued.

"Hey, c'mon, he's trying t-" Natsu argued.

"Is everyone almost ready?"

"Hey, man, quit inter-"

"I warn you all though, the battle wi-"

"BLAH! Haha! Now how do you li-"

"Being interrupted. Quite fine actually." Ozpin smiled.

"HRGH! I fuckin' hate you…" Natsu growled.

Ozpin chuckled. "Good. Now take your positions."

As everyone, and to Natsu's own irritation, began readying themselves, Jaune still pushed forward with his question. "Uh sir? I've got, um, a question."

One platform shot Weiss forward.

"So, this landing strategy thing, uh, w-what is it? You're, like, dropping us off or something?" Jaune asked.

"No. You will be falling." Ozpin responded.

Another platform shot a boy with spiked hair forward.

"Oh, I see. So, like, did you hand out parachutes for us?" Jaune questioned, scratching his head.

' _Oh poor dense, Jaune.'_ Natsu thought to himself, shaking his head as he saw another platform shoot Nora off.

"Woohoo!" Nora exclaimed as her platform shot her into the air.

"No, you will be using your own landing strategy." Ozpin replied.

Another platform shot Cardin forward.

Natsu merely yawned as his turn moved closer, looking to see that he was right after Ruby.

"Uhhuh…yeah." Jaune muttered.

Yang moved her head to wink at both Ruby and Natsu, both responding with a thumbs up, and shot forward. "WOOOOO!" She yelled.

Ruby waved at Natsu as she shot forward, to which he replied back with a wave of his own. She then shot forward, sailing away with a scream of glee.

"So…uh…I still don't-" Jaune continued until he was interrupted.

"Jaune, you seen Toy Story?' Natsu asked, remembering the marathon of Pixar marathon Ruby had forced both him and Yang to undergo.

"Oh yeah! My sisters and I love that movie!" Jaune exclaimed happily.

"Well, pr-wait you have sisters? Ugh, never mind, just prepare to 'fall with-" Suddenly, Natsu was interrupted as his platform shot him forward, sending him soaring into the sky. "You did that on purpose!" Natsu screamed, as his form got smaller and smaller into the sky.

"Wait…Toy Story? But falling with…what? Falling with….falling with….OH! Falling with stYLE! " Jaune shrieked, as his platform shot him forward into the sky.

As his students sailed into the sky, Ozpin turned around and took a sip of his mysterious liquid once again. "…I love my job."

 **AAAAAAAAAAND THAT'S A WRAP! Another chapter finished! YES! Love this story and I wanna thank everyone again for supporting me as well as this story. I really appreciate it!**

 **Now, as for Winter, Glynda, and possibly Raven…I'm thinking about it. I mean, people are telling me "Go for it!" while others say, "Nah man. That's too far or too many girls!" I'm just…so conflicted! I understand what each side is saying, but I'm still conflicted. So, what I'm going to do is this: I'm going to play around with them. And what I mean is this, the pairings of NatsuxOlder Women won't technically be officially inside of the harem, but you can bet I'm gonna have fun teasing the hell out of them. Now, if people wanna construe this as part of the harem, then go ahead. But, if people are against it, then just know that while these pairings will be teased and mentioned sometimes, they won't be the main focus. Think of them like…an appetizer or something. Not the main entrée, but still something to enjoy, you know?**

 **Anyways, thank you all for supporting me again. So, if you all liked this chapter, then please Favorite, Follow, and REVIEW!**


	5. Chapter 5

**HELLO AGAIN! I'm back with an all new chapter and I am just pumped to give it to you all! Seriously, I just want to say thank you to everyone who has been supporting me because I really appreciate it. It's nice to see people enjoying my story and I want to say thank you for that. Now, I've also created a poll as to whether or not I should add the older women of RWBY, i.e. Glynda, Winter, Raven, etc. If I do, I'll probably take out Nora of it because people have been telling me that her connection with Ren would probably hinder that. As for Coco and Velvet…I'm thinking about it. Again, not much is known about them, but I'd still consider them viable candidates. Anyway, without further ado…**

 **Disclaimer: In the first chapter. I still do not own anything Disney related or The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. Or the Jeopardy theme.**

"Stupid asshole! Interrupting me when I'm just trying to help out one of my friends. I mean, c'mon! Who the fuck does that! What a fuckin' asshole! Hrgh…damn Ozpin with his damn stupid mug with whatever kind of mysterious fucking liquid. Probably drugs or something in there! Hmm…that actually sounds like a good idea. Druggin' the Headmaster of this school. YEAH! You hear that, you silver-haired, liquid-drinking, motherfucker! I'm comin' for ya!" Natsu ranted, still soaring through the air. _'Ugh…well this was fun, but…'_ The dragon quickly pushed his feet forward and ignited his feet, so to stop himself in mid-air. "Pshh…too easy." He grinned. Now hovering above the forest, he stopped to look around for any temple in the area. As he stopped to look around, he saw Jaune still flying through the air. "Aww shit…well better go save him!" The dragon slayer sighed, about to shoot himself off towards the falling blonde Huntsman, but then saw an orange spear suddenly rescue the teen from smashing into the ground.

"Thank you…" Jaune yelled out, now stuck to a random tree.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha yelled back with a wave.

Taking a sigh of relief, Natsu moved his head back to scanning the horizon for any sign of a forest temple. Finally, he pinpointed the temple out in the far distance and quickly shot himself forward, boosting his flames to carry him farther. Within a minute or so, the dragon slayer arrived at the temple and lowered himself onto the ground. Moving his head to take in his surroundings, the salmon-haired boy noticed several broken pillars surrounding a circle of strange idols. Natsu took slow steps and noticed that the strange idols looked like…chest pieces? "Seriously…chess pieces? If the guys was going for symbolism, then he really beat us over the head with these choices." He snorted, shaking his head in disbelief. The fire mage then looked around and wondered what piece he should take. Granted, he didn't have a partner, but he would just wait here until someone came across him. Two pieces were already missing from the circle of chess piece idols and deduced that two people had already arrived and taken two of them. His eyes shifting around, Natsu stopped on a peculiar piece that brought forth all kinds of…horrifying memories. A lone, black king piece was knocked over to the side of one of the standings that held the idols.

' _ **Take it…take it…it's perfect…'**_

' _Shut up! I don't want that piece…t-that's not me!'_

' _ **Liar…how long can you put up this charade…how long can you lie to them…liar…liar…take it…be the king…once more…'**_

' _NEVER AGAIN!'_

Shaking his head side to side rapidly, Natsu quickly grabbed the Knight piece that was adjacent to the fallen king piece. "I'm not you…never you…" The fire mage mumbled. Afterwards, he sighed and sat down in the middle of the circle and closed his eyes. _'Time to wait…I'm used to waiting…'_

* * *

' _Gotta find Yang…Gotta find Natsu…Gotta find Yang…Gotta fiiiiind Natsu…'_ "Yaaaaaaang! Naaaaaaaatsu! Yaaaaaang! Naaaaaaatsu!" Ruby screamed as she sprinted through the forest in search for her big sister and secret future lover. _'Ugh this is bad, this is really bad! What if I can't find either of them? What if someone finds one of them first? Well…there's always Jaune…he's nice. He's funny! I don't think he's very good in a fight, though. Oh! What about Blake? So mysterious, so calm. Plus she likes books! Well, then again, I'm not sure I'd be able to carry a conversation with her. Oh! There's Pyrrha! Now she's be a perfect candidate for a partner…then again, most likely everyone would be gunning for her. Hehe…gunning…like a gun. OH! C'mon, Ruby, focus! Ugh! Okay…who else do I know in this school? There's Yang, Natsu, Jaune, Blake, Pyrrha, and…'_ Ruby suddenly slid to a halt as she saw a familiar white-haired girl, who turned around to look behind her. _'OOOO WEISS! Of course, surely she'll…hopefully want to be partners with me.'_ The cloaked girl gave the heiress a small smile as they stared at one another. Strangely, the heiress suddenly turned around and began walking the other way. "Wait! Where are you going? We're supposed to be teammates…" Ruby mumbled, kicking a small rock in despair.

"Duh. I know that. Some of us actually pay attention to the rules. I'm quite surprised you were one of them." A voice rang out in front of the hooded girl. Ruby suddenly raised her eyes to see Weiss standing in front of her, pointing in the direction she was currently walking in. "What? What's with that look? Fine, if you don't want to be partners then I can always…" Suddenly, a small body collided with the heiress' own, causing her to grunt from this collision.

"YES! I want to be friends…err…partners! Either one, just don't leave me!" Ruby smiled, hopping on both feet as she hugged the white-haired Schnee.

Weiss rolled her eyes with a small smile and unfurled the girl's arms from her. "Okay okay! That's enough. I don't want to be the last one getting an idol. Last thing I need is another reason for that pink-haired dolt to tease me about…" The heiress mumbled, walking deeper into the forest.

Ruby began skipping next to her in glee at having found a new friend…or acquaintance…whatever that was. "He actually prefers if people say its salmon. Kinda one of his pet peeves. Like, one of mine is when someone uses sarcasm. I mean, seriously say what you wanna say and say it! Why all the guessing?! It's just so…annoying! You know what I mean?"

"…Not at all." Weiss replied.

"…was that sarcasm?" Ruby growled.

"…I'm starting to immediately regret my decision now." The heiress muttered.

"…WAS THAT SARCASM? …I mean, I'll be good." The hooded girl replied, twiddling her thumbs.

As the two pushed forward, they suddenly heard a voice muttering to themselves just above them. They both looked upwards and saw Jaune strangely stuck to a random tree by what looked like an orange spear. "Ugh, come on you stupid urg….come on agh." He mumbled to himself, while he continuously tried to take out the spear. Looking down at the ground, he laughed nervously as he saw Ruby and Weiss staring at him. "Hehe…hey. So…uh, how's the weather like down there?" The blonde Huntsman chuckled, hoping he could push aside this awkward scene without being teased about it.

Weiss shrugged her shoulders. "More or less what it's like up there I presume. Probably a bit chilly…perhaps a bit gusty?"

"Hehe…yeah. So, uh…y-you two partners, huh?" Jaune continued.

"Yup! Best friends…err acquaintances…e-err… partners! Yup!" Ruby smiled.

Jaune sighed as he heard that. "Well…that's good…for you anyways."

Weiss rolled her eyes at the boy's blatant ignoring of his current situation. Why didn't he just simply ask for help? Was it his male pride? What a foolish concept. Why would someone let their pride…override their own shortcomings. _'Ugh…I miss the days when I didn't know I used to be mean.'_ Sighing to herself, Weiss used her semblance to create several glyphs to act like a staircase. As she arrived to where Jaune was stuck, she crossed her arms over her chest. "So, is there something you'd like to ask me?"

Jaune looked side to side and tried to look as nonchalant as possible. "…Is there something you'd like to ask me?"

"…Okay, I'm leaving." Weiss deadpanned as she began walking back down, until Jaune called out to her.

"Wait! Please don't leave me!" The blonde Huntsman called out to her, waving his hands wildly.

Weiss then turned around and stepped in front of him. "Then just say you need help…*sigh* I know how hard it is to do that. But…both of us need to change. Otherwise, we'll only be bringing ourselves down, as well as the people around us." She then subtly shifted her eyes to look at a certain red cloaked girl.

"…*sighs* You're right. C-Can you help a guy put?" Jaune asked, pointing at the spear lodging him into the tree.

"No." Weiss responded with a smile.

"W-Wait what?!" Jaune yelled, to which the heiress responded by shutting his mouth with her hand.

"Shhhh! Do you want to get us killed?! I was just being facetious, Jaune!" Weiss said with a glare, grabbing ahold of the orange spear and began pulling it.

"Oh…t-that's like being sarcastic, right?" The blonde Huntsman asked.

"Grrrrr…sarcasm?!" Ruby screamed from beneath them.

"Ugh! Would you cut it out already, Ruby! Man, this darn thing…it's stuck!" Weiss growled, trying with all her might to pull the spear out of the tree.

"Well, pull harder! My arms are getting tired." The blonde teen whined.

' _Hrgh! Your arms are getting tired?! Ugh…should have just left you in this damn tree. Stupid pink-haired dolt…making me care for these simpletons. Ugh…damn this stupid orange spear! Why...won't…you…come…OUT?!'_ Weiss ranted inside her mind, until suddenly the spear came flying out of the tree trunk, causing Jaune to fall down to the ground.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Jaune screamed as he fell to the ground.

"Ooo ooo I got him! I got him!" Ruby yelled, moving herself under where she thought Jaune was falling towards, but missed him entirely as he crashed into the ground. "I…don't got him."

"Ughhhh…why?" The blonde Huntsman whined, his whole body aching.

Suddenly, someone came running out of the bushes and kneeled in front of Jaune. "Oh my gosh! I am so sorry, Jaune! I thought you would merely use your aura to deflect the damage when you fell." Pyrrha said, shocked to see that the young teen hadn't used any of his aura.

"Ugh…Gesundheit" Jaune mumbled.

* * *

Natsu sighed as he whistled one of the songs Ruby had shown him, lying on his back as he waited for anybody to show up. "Sooooooo bored. Ugh…seriously, why the hell isn't anyone here yet! I mean, c'mon! I know these people can't really fly or anything, but damn, you'd think at least someone would get here." The dragon slayer grumbled, closing his eyes as he listened to his surroundings. Birds were singing throughout the various trees, flowers were beginning to bloom, rushing rivers were flowing downstream calmly, which when all put together created a serene environment that alluded to a calm environment. But it wasn't…he could also hear the growling's of Grimm the patrolled the area. Just waiting…for anyone to crush with their very claws or teeth. Scrunching his nose at this particularly morose image, a large shadow suddenly covered his body. Normally, he would have sprung into action at this, but he recognized this scent. "Took you long enough, Yang. Looks like you're getting slow in your old age." Natsu grinned, until he felt a hard kick to his stomach. "Hrgh! …ugh the same place again. How are you doing that?" He opened his eyes in pain as he saw an irritated blonde staring down at him.

"Oh with someone like you, I get plenty of practice." Yang growled, turning around to walk towards the various chess idols.

Natsu grumbled as he slowly got up and noticed that Yang wasn't alone. Next to her was the mysterious amber-eyed girl that Ruby and the gang had tried to befriend before. They never actually got her name before. "Heya. Name's Natsu Dragneel. Pleasure to meet you. I don't think we were ever properly introduced." Natsu grinned, holding out his hand towards the black-haired Huntress.

Blake looked down at the hand and ignored it entirely. "Blake."

Getting a terse response, Natsu didn't decide to press the girl any further then. "Gotcha! Blake, beautiful name, if I do say so myself and…what?" The dragon slayer asked, seeing Yang give him an irritated and inquisitive gaze.

"…Nothing." She replied emotionlessly, looking back at the chess piece idols.

Natsu rolled his eyes in exasperation as he walked down to the chess pieces. He looked at her from the side, but saw that she was giving him the cold shoulder. Well…good thing he was a fire mage. Grabbing another Knight piece, he slowly began moving it towards Yang's face. "Nyeeeeeeh! Look, Yang. A cute pony! Nyeeeeeeh!" Natsu chuckled, moving the chess piece as if it was an actual horse. Yang moved away, forcibly holding back a smile, to which Natsu caught. "Nyeeeeeeh! Pick me, Yang! Aren't I so adorable? Don't you wuv me?" He asked in a cutesy tone, edging the horse piece closer to her face. A grin crept up slowly onto Yang's face and finally laughed as she grabbed the Knight piece form his grasp and held it up triumphantly.

"Fine! Geez, you're relentless, aren't you? I will admit though…he is pretty cute." Yang smiled, subtly looking at a certain pink-haired boy.

"Isn't he? I picked him out juuuuuuust for you! Treat, Buttercup, well. _*_ sniff* He likes carrots every day for breakfast. Only give him two sugar cubes otherwise he'll just Nyeh all day long. *sniff* I'm gonna miss him." Natsu sniffed in fake sadness.

"Oh shut up." The busty Huntress elbowed him, getting him to chuckle. She then moved the Knight piece in front of her face and looked to the salmon-haired teen. "I wuv you."

Natsu grinned as he petted the chess piece. "Wuv you too."

Yang, being perked up by what he had just said (even if he didn't fully realize she had just tricked him into professing his love for her), hopped over to Blake, who was waiting on the sidelines. "You like? C'mon, Buttercup, say hi. Nyeeeeeh!"

Blake smiled as she saw the two's strange camaraderie and laughed lightly at the small horse chess piece. "Well…at least you picked a cute one."

"Didn't I?" Yang winked.

"Well, seems like you two are becoming closer. Great! Soooooooo…guess that leaves Ruby, Weiss, Pyrrha, Jaune, Nora, or Ren to become p…wait a minute. Two pieces are gone…then you two got one…six people left…AWWWWW! Are you fucking kidding me?!" Natsu yelled, slamming both his hands to the sides of his head in anger.

"What?' Yang asked, being caught off guard by her friend's weird outburst.

"Ugh…first off, I hate Ozpin! Not just because he left me the odd man out! BUT, he me made me do MATH to find it out! There are an odd amount of people in this damn initiation! Which means, somebody is going to be left without a partner…and…actually that sounds pretty good to me. Haha! You hear that Ozpin! I win! I don't care if you don't pair me up with anyone so….HAH!" The dragon slayer screamed into the wilderness.

"What are you screaming at?" Blake deadpanned.

"The cameras…wherever they are. I just know that smug bastard is watching right now and I want him to know that I WIN! Hahahaha….haha…ha….this is pretty sad, isn't it?" The fire mage lowered his head in depression.

"Yup!" Yang grinned.

"Yes." Blake answered.

* * *

"Quite sad, indeed." Ozpin smiled, taking another sip from his mug.

"What is quite sad, Professor Ozpin?" Glynda asked.

"Oh nothing, Glynda. Just an old man talking to himself. But, I can see something quite hopeful upon the horizon. It looks like the final team has been formed." Ozpin said, showing Glynda the pad he was looking at.

Glynda leaned forward to look at it "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy. I can't possibly imagine those two getting along. Still, he's probably better off than Ms. Nikos."

"Hmm?" Ozpin questioned.

"I don't care what his transcripts say, that Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat. I guess we'll find out soon enough, won't we?' Glynda asked.

Ozpin didn't respond as he continued staring down at the dense forest.

"Professor Ozpin?" Glynda asked, leaning forward to see if the headmaster was alright. Strangely enough, all she saw was a slight smile as he stared down at his pad.

* * *

After Pyrrha had helped awaken Jaune's aura, the four Hunters continued on their trek together towards the forest temple…wherever that was. They had first began following Weiss, seeing as how she was the one that took charge of the brigade (in the hopes that Professor Ozpin was watching and would make her team leader). Unfortunately, she may have, not that she would ever admit it though, gotten them lost in the process. "Ugh…you have no idea where we are, do you?" Ruby asked, hopping over a broken log.

"Of course I do…we just keep walking this way. Or…was it the other way." Weiss mumbled, looking around to see if anything looked familiar.

"Ohhhh we're lost, aren't we? Oh we're gonna die out here! Somebody heeeee-" Jaune shouted until the three women shut his mouth with their various hands before he gave away their position to the Grimm.

"Quiet, Jaune. If you're too loud, then the Grimm will find us sooner. We have to keep a low profile until we find the forest temple." Pyrrha lightly scolded the blonde Huntsman.

"Sorry…" Jaune mumbled, immediately perking up as he saw a cave. "Hey, girls, look! Maybe that's it over there!" The girls then turned their head to get a look at what he was pointing at and saw a cave with strange markings on the side of it. They all walked closer to it and couldn't see any further than the entrance thanks to the dense darkness of the interior of the cave. "Think this is it?"

"I don't know if we should go in there…" Weiss mumbled, unsure if this cave truly was their destination.

"Well, at least he got us somewhere." Ruby mumbled.

"Excuse me?!" Weiss growled, moving her head to glare at the hooded girl.

"You're excused! As in, you're excused from being our boss, you…big meanie!" The silver-eyed girl stuck her tongue out at Weiss.

The heiress gasped as she heard that. "Why you…insufferable child! If it wasn't for me, then we'd never have gotten here in the first place!"

Both Pyrrha and Jaune looked at each other awkwardly as they slowly stepped away into the cave to avoided being roped into the fight. Jaune, seeing a piece of wood, immediately lit it up so it could be used as a torch. As the two ventured deeper into the darkness, Pyrrha began to have doubts as to whether or not this was where they were supposed to be going. "I'm not sure this is it…" She whispered to the lanky boy.

Jaune sighed. "Pyrrha, I made the torch. Could you at least humor me for maybe five more feet? He asked, suddenly tripping over something which caused the torch to fall and disparate, leaving them in pure darkness. The blonde haired Huntsman picked himself up as he muttered, "Ow."

Feeling an odd sense of warmth, Pyrrha asked Jaune, "Do you feel that?"

"Soul crushing regret? Because if that's what you're feeling, I feel that 24/7." Jaune replied.

"No, it's…warm." Pyrrha responded, getting a sudden eerie feeling. Feeling it somewhere deeper inside of the cave, they traversed even deeper into it. As they verged deeper, they saw a strange, glowing object in front of them.

"There's the relic!" Jaune yelled in glee, holding out his palm to grab it, but for some reason it moved away. "Hey! Bad relic!" He tried again to grab it, but it once again moved away. "Oh what gives with this darn thing!" Repeatedly trying again to grab the "relic", a sudden thought popped into his head. _'Oh man…this reminds of that weird part in Finding Nemo where Marlin and Dory find that weird glowing light thing that…'_ He then suddenly grabbed ahold of it with both hands. "Gotcha!" Jaune yelled triumphantly.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha whispered, her eyes finally seeing just what the "relic" was attached to.

"What?" Jaune asked, turning his head to look at her, and turned back when he heard a hiss in front of him. Slowly turning his head back, Jaune whimpered as he finally finished that thought. _'…that turned out to be a…'_ Seeing glowing red eyes in front of him, he screamed. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

* * *

"Some girl's in trouble!" Yang yelled, turning to where the scream came from. "Blake, Natsu, did you hear that?"

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he could already tell who screamed. _'Oh…Jaune. Couldn't you at least have a manly scream?'_

Blake, however, was mysteriously staring at the sky with a terrified gaze.

* * *

"OOOOOOH I hate you so much!" Ruby growled, grappling with Weiss.

"I hate you more!" Weiss growled back, grappling with Ruby.

"I can't believe I wanted to be acquaintances with you!" The hooded girl snarled.

"You wanted to be friends, you fool!" The heiress snarled back.

Ruby stared blankly at her. "…Yeah, well I don't wanna be either anymore you…you spoon!"

Weiss looked at the girl with a bewildered look. "D-Did you just call me a spoon?"

"Y-Yeah, I did. I…I…damn it! That's what I came up with?! Hrgh….just give me a minute!" Ruby growled, trying to think of a better comeback.

Suddenly, a feminine screech echoed from the cave as a winded Pyrrha came sprinting out. "Get out of the way!" She yelled, in the hopes her friends would understand.

"What is she talk-" Weiis began before Ruby pushed them both out of the way. "Hey! What's the big-"

 _ **CRASH**_

A huge Grimm-like scorpion suddenly burst out of the cave, holding Jaune hostage by the tip of its tail. "RAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" The Grimm roared.

"Ahhhhh! Why? Ahhhh! Pyrrha! Finding Nemo! Ahhhhh! Weiss! Ruby! It's not the relic! Finding Nemo! This is not the relic! It's not! Ahhhhhh! One of you do something!" Jaune screamed, holding on for dear life.

"What the-Why does he keep saying Finding Nemo? Oooo does he like Pixar too?" Ruby asked herself.

"Ruby! Not now!" Weiss retorted.

"Jaune! Whatever you do, don't let-" Pyrrha began, until the Grimm suddenly threw Jaune out into the distance. "…go." She mumbled, looking back to see the Grimm staring at her. Scratching her head with an embarrassed look, she looked at her wrist, "Ohh…listen, I kinda gotta-" She then quickly zoomed away deeper into the forest.

"RAAAAAAAAAAH!" The Grimm roared, turning back towards Ruby and Weiss.

"Weiss, hold on to me!" Ruby said to the heiress.

"What?! What for!" Weiss questioned, readying herself for battle.

Rolling her eyes in irritation, the hooded girl grabbed ahold of Weiss and zoomed off to where Pyrrha was running off to.

* * *

"Hello, are either of you two listening to me?" Yang asked the two, who were both staring upwards for some reason.

Natsu merely pointed upwards. "Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door, With such name as "Nevermore…On the morrow _he_ will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before. Then the bird said "Nevermore… Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore. Of 'Never—nevermore'… And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor. Shall be lifted—nevermore!"

"What?!" Yang screamed, questioning why her friend was talking nonsense.

"Nevermore…" Blake uttered, pointing upwards to the sky.

Yang quickly moved her head upwards and saw a huge Nevermore circling the sky above them. "Well…shit."

"Nice quotation of 'The Raven' by the way." Blake muttered, staring upwards.

"Morose and sullen with an interesting prose. What's not to like?" Natsu chuckled, bitter memories evident in his mind.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" A screech was heard, but not by the Nevermore. No…this was instead coming from a lanky teen soaring through the sky.

Natsu sighed as he ignited his feet to catch the boy. "I guess we can finish our mutual love for gothic literature another time, Blake." He smiled, shooting himself upwards towards the now falling teen.

' _I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die! I'M GONNA-'_ Jaune was screaming inside of his head, until something caught him mid-air. Opening his eyes to see, he saw that he was flying up in the air, high above the trees and looked up to see Natsu holding him close. "I'M GONNA LIVE!" He screamed, holding the salmon-haired boy in a tight hug.

' _Urge to drop him…rising.'_ As he began to lower himself, the Nevermore screeched and shot downwards to attack the two. "Oh fuck!" Natsu yelled, shooting backwards to avoid the Nevermore's downward attack. The Nevermore narrowly avoided the ground as it turned its body to swoop back upwards. Using this to his advantage, Natsu lowered himself to the ground quickly and dropped Jaune onto the floor. Before they could relax though, a sudden growling Ursa appeared throughout the bushes roaring at the top of it lungs. However, the Ursa seemed to be flailing its limbs in agony as sparks of electricity sparked from behind its back and collapsed to the floor.

"Yeehaw!" Nora shouted, riding the backside of the Ursa like a bucking bronco. She then rolled off of it, seeing her new toy was dead. "Aww. It's broken." She whined with a sad face. Zooming on top of it, she inspected the Ursa with a disgusted face. "Ewww…"

Suddenly, Ren came bursting from the bushes, out of breath. "Nora? Please…don't ever do that again." Moving his head upwards to scold her, he immediately saw that she had disappeared. He then sighed as he saw that she was now inspecting the chess relics on the standings. Ren then sighed as he slowly made his way towards the group.

"Ooooo…" Nora said in awe of the Queen chess piece in front of her. Immediately grabbing it, she held it up in triumph and sang happily, "I'm Queen of the castle. I'm Queen of the castle!"

"NORA!" Ren roared, stomping towards the bubbly orange-haired girl.

"Hehehe. Coming, Ren!" She yelled back, saluting him.

"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asked with a deadpan stare.

"I-" Yang began before another screech came from the forest once again.

Trees began to tumble to the ground as Ruby and Weiss came sprinting out of it and arrived at the group. Suddenly, Pyrrha followed afterwards, narrowly avoiding a swipe by the scorpion-like Grimm by jumping. "Jaune!" Pyrrha screamed.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune yelled.

"Natsu!" Ruby shouted.

"Dolt!" Weiss screamed.

"Ruby! Schnee-Devil!" Natsu yelled back.

"Ruby!" Yang screamed, holding out her arms for a hug.

"Yang!" Ruby shouted, dropping Weiss on the floor and sprinted towards her sister.

"Oww! Ruby!" Weiss growled at being dropped on the floor and slowly picked herself up.

"Nora!" Nora yelled, hopping in front of the two sister's with her arms wide open.

"Did you three just run all the way here with a Deathstalker on your tail?" Blake deadpanned.

"Is that you're thing now? Pointing out the obvious things people are doing?" Natsu deadpanned at her.

"As soon as you all stop doing crazy things than I'll stop." Blake retorted.

"…I'm sorry, where are we again? OH! That's right! A school that trains people with special abilities to be heroes in order to battle monsters that continuously spawn over and over…so I'm guessing you're probably gonna be doing this for a while now, huh?" Natsu grinned.

"…*sigh*" Blake sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Nora simply danced in a small jig with her eyes closed as she enjoyed all the craziness that was happening all around her.

Yang growled as all these crazy things continued popping up while all she wanted to was simply have fun, protect her sister, and seduce her best friend. Was that too much to ask?! Her body shaking in a fit of rage, Natsu slowly stepped back while yelling, "SHE'S GONNA BLOW!"

"Grrrrr! I can't take it anymore!" She shouted, flames exuding from her body in a mild explosion. "Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?"

"Let's start the clock everyone!" Natsu shouted, looking at his wrist as he counted down in his head. "Bum bum bum bumpa bum bum bum. Bum bum bum bum bump! Bunanana. Bum bum bum bumpa bum bum bum. Bum bum bum bum bump! Okay, that was like, what? Eleven seconds or something, right? BTW, Yang…I've never been more attracted to you then right now." The dragon slayer grinned, chewing on some of the fire the explosion had created.

Yang suddenly perked up from hearing that and rubbed her knuckles onto her brown vest. Before she could properly bask in this triumph, Ruby suddenly tapped Yang's shoulder. "What, Ruby?! This is the closest I've ever been! What could possibly be more important then-" She then followed her finger towards the sky to see…the Nevermore circling again. The blonde Huntress then drooped her head in depression. "Of course…the minute I get close. The whole freakin' world comes crashing down on me."

"Shouldn't one of us help, Pyrrha?" Natsu asked, pointing at the red-haired warrior sprinting away from the Deathstalker.

"It's gonna hit her." Blake replied.

"She'll be fine." Ruby responded.

"It hit her." Ren deadpanned.

Suddenly, Pyrrha's body crashed in front of them.

"Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!" Yang cheered, a sarcastic tone latent in her voice.

"…Yang, was that…sarcasm?" Ruby asked, her brow raised.

"…I don't know, Ruby, is it?" Yang responded, putting her hands on her waist as she stared down at her sister.

Ruby stared at her…and slapped her hands over her eyes in sadness. "I don't know!"

"So…are we gonna die?" Jaune whimpered, picking up Pyrrha from the floor.

Dropping her hands from her eyes, Ruby yelled, "Not if I can help it!" She then sprinted towards the Deathstalker, Crescent Rose now unfurled and ready for battle.

"RUBY, WAIT!" Yang screamed, a frightened tone in her voice. The blonde Huntress quickly sprint after her baby sister before she got in way over her head.

"Agh! Damn it, Ruby, Yang! Shit!" Natsu followed behind them.

Ruby then pulled the trigger of Crescent Rose, causing her to shoot forward towards the Deathstalker and readied her scythe to cut it into pieces. As the scythe slammed down onto the Deathstalker, the armor proved to be too durable and it slapped her away from it with one might swoop of its claw. The cloaked girl was then pushed back and tumbled onto the ground, slowly picking herself up. "D-Do-Don't worry! Totally fine!" Ruby yelled back at them, turning around with a frightened expression on her face seeing the Deathstalker right in front of her. "Oh no…" She whispered, firing a shot at the beast, but it once again had no effect. The hooded girl then retreated back towards the group, praying that she made it back to them in time.

"RUBY!" Yang screamed as she ran to her baby sister, whom she swore to protect until death did they part. Her eyes widened as she saw the Nevermore swoop closer, ready to prey atop her baby sister's body with no hopes of her survival. The Nevermore then fired its feathers towards the petite girl, getting one lodged into her cloak. Feathers rained upon the battlefield, covering most of it with black, dark feather. Yang suddenly slipped as she narrowly avoided some of the feathers. She then saw her poor baby sister try with all her might to remove the large Nevermore feather from her cloak, but couldn't budge it. "Ruby, get out of there!"

"I'm trying!" Ruby whimpered, trying to pull the feather from her beloved cloak, but wasn't strong enough. _'No please…I don't want to die here. I can't die here! Please….somebody help me!'_ She slowly raised her eyes as she saw the Deathstalker raise its pincer above her head and closed her eyes for the inevitable blow.

…but nothing pierced her.

"Ay…how many times do I have to do this?" A voice said to her.

"I know…she is so childish." A feminine voice concurred.

Slowly opening her eyes, Ruby saw Natsu gripping the pincer with both hands and turned to see ice formed around the body of the monster. "Natsu? Weiss?"

"And dimwitted, and hyperactive, and don't get me started on your fighting style or lack of understanding as to what sarcasm is." Weiss scolded the young girl.

"…I think she gets it, Weiss." Natsu deadpanned, releasing his hold on the pincer.

Weiss looked to see the boy giving her that same look she gave her in the locker room and sighed. "…and I suppose, I can be a bit…"

"Bitchy?" Natsu responded with a raised eyebrow.

"Bossy?" Ruby replied.

"Lips moving still talking!" Weiss growled.

"Sorry." The two apologized.

Taking deep breath, she continued, "…difficult. But if we're going to do this…" The heiress then leaned down towards the petite girl. "…we're going to have to do this together. So, if you quit trying to show off, I'll be…"

"Less bitchy?" The dragon slayer asked.

"Less bossy?" The cloaked girl responded.

"HRGH! I'm going to kill you bo-…AHEM! I mean, nicer." The white-haired girl said with a light smile. "…but don't ever call me a bitchy again." She glared at the shrugging dragon slayer.

"Fair enough." He shrugged.

"I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know I can do this." Ruby said, hoping that the white-haired girl would accept her.

"You're fine." Weiss replied with a small smile, giving the small cloaked girl pat on the shoulder.

Ruby sighed in relief. "Normal knees…" She whispered.

"…Did you just say normal knees?" Natsu asked with a bewildered stare.

"W-What?! N-No, I…I thought I was alone. I…ugh just make fun of me already." The cloaked girl conceded with her head hung low.

Natsu smiled and pet the girl's head. "Too easy, Ruby. Besides, I'm proud of you. Granted, I don't approve of your Leroy Jenkins moment, but…you tried your best and that's what counts." He then kneeled down and gave her a serious look. "But, don't ever worry me like that again, ok? Or your sister. Your…you're very important to us."

Ruby blushed under the serious gaze of the dragon slayer was giving her and nodded fast in response. "Y-Yeah. I pr-promise." Natsu smiled at that and grabbed ahold of the girl's hand, forcing her blush to deepen and give a small 'eep', and pulled her upwards. The cloaked girl then looked behind the salmon-haired boy and saw the ice that Weiss's weapon had created had encased the Deathstalker's tail in ice, forcing it to remain stuck in its place. "Whoa…" She whispered in awe. Turning around to walk back to the group, she saw her older sister quickly run up to her and wrap her into a tight hug, forcing poor Ruby to groan at the tightness of it.

"Oh Ruby, I'm so happy you're okay! Now…don't you ever do that again! Do you hear me! You had me worried sick! I probably got like a million tiny wrinkles because of how much I was worrying about you!" Yang yelled at the small girl, shaking her back and forth.

Natsu squinted his eyes to focus better. "Oh yeah…you're right. They look so gr-UGH!" He grunted, getting a punch to the gut via a yellow gauntlet. "OH! …fuckin' same place!" The dragon slayer moaned as he kneeled to the ground.

"Ahhhh…much better." The blonde Huntress sighed happily. The two sisters then looked upwards to see the Nevermore still up in the sky, waiting for its chance to strike.

"Guys, that thing's circling back. What are we gonna do?" Jaune asked, pointing upwards at the flying beast.

"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us." The white-haired girl responded, motioning towards the relics.

Ruby nodded. "She's right. Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliffs."

Weiss smiled in response to Ruby's affirmation of her decision.

"There's no point in fighting these things." Ruby concluded.

"Run and live. That is an idea I can get behind." Jaune agreed.

"True that. Can't wait to get back to the academy and just sleep. Maybe eat. Crack a few bad jokes. You know, the basics." Natsu laughed.

"Amen to that! Let's end this mission once and for all!" Yang cheered, wrapping her arm around the salmon-haired boy.

"Alright, everyone grab an artifact an-" Natsu began until the ice surrounding the Deathstalker began to crack. "Weeeeeeell…shit."

Quickly, everyone grabbed the artifact they needed and began sprinting towards the hill. "Alright, everyone, let's go!" Ruby yelled, motioning everyone to follow her. Everyone, besides Natsu, Yang and Blake stood behind for a second. Both Natsu and Yang looked at the young girl with proud smiles atop their faces as she led the group towards the hilltop.

Blake noticed this and called them out on it. "What is it?"

"Nothing…" Yang smiled, completely full of emotion.

Blake smiled back at her with a knowing gaze as they began heading toward the hilltop. Natsu began to follow until the ice cracked even further, almost giving way to the Deathstalker's strength. "Ugh…fuck." Natsu sighed, turning around to head off the creature.

"What are you doing? You can't fight that thing alone!" Yang shouted at him as she began heading back to help him. She stopped once she saw Natsu put a hand up to stop her.

"Relax, Yang. I'll be fine. This is me we're talking back. C'mon, you know I'll always come back to ya." The dragon slayer winked at the blonde Huntress.

Yang could see that the boy's mind was made up and sighed. She knew there was no chance of changing his mind when she saw that look in his eye. "…You better." The blonde Huntress said, heading back to the hilltop.

Natsu smiled as he saw his both his new and old friends begin to work together towards a common goal. …It reminded him of his own home. Shaking his head to dispel the negative thoughts, after all, he didn't want to give the monster any more strength than it already had and began stomping towards the monster. The Deathstalker had almost cracked through the ice by the time Natsu had arrived to it. Its eyes turned to the boy and hissed in fury. "Hey, that's not very nice. Not my fault you were trying to kill me and my friends. You've got nobody to blame, but yourself." Natsu growled, igniting his hands. He then got ready to pummel through the Grimm's heavy armor that surrounded it and raised his hand to strike before he head…

' _ **Traitor…'**_

Natsu stopped when he heard this voice. This one… _ **it**_. No…this was a feminine voice. This voice was filled with malevolence and malice intertwined with every letter she spoke. "W-What?"

' _ **How can you do this…after all the love we gave you…why do you make us suffer like this?'**_

It was coming from the Deathstalker, but…it didn't sound like it was its actual voice. As if it was some kind of puppet, merely being used by the true master. "Y-You tried to kill me. My friends too! How could I possibly spare a monster so vile and heartless!" Natsu yelled back.

' _ **How hypocritical…how long was it ago that you to walked this very path…filled with nothing but hatred in your heart…they rejected you…we did not…we lov-"**_

"SHUT UP! Stop taunting me! Enough of your words! I've had enough of…monsters like you trying to change me…I'm nothing like you!" He growled, his temper flaring higher with every word.

' _ **Don't you remember…why you came to us in the first place…because of her…'**_

Natsu's eyes flared in rage at the mention of… "HRAGH!" He roared, slamming his fists onto the Deathstalker, pummeling with hellish fury. "DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT HER! DON'T YOU EVEN SPEAK ABOUT HER!" The Deathstalker cried in pain as the fire of Natsu's fist rained down upon it with rigorous demonic intent. His fists continued bashing through the monster's armor, effectively cracking it and eventually destroying it, which allowed Natsu to climb upon the creature and pound it into oblivion. "DON'T!" Another punch. "YOU!" Another. "EVER!" Another. "MENTION!" Another. "HER!" Another. _**"EVER!"**_ A demonic roar echoed from his voice, eyes being swallowed up by the darkness and the only thing in the middle a red pupil.

The Grimm moaned in agony as it began to dissipate from existence. Its eyes had stayed glued to the boy throughout its entire beatdown and stared him straight in the eye as she cackled, _**'See…you're still the same…just like us…come back to us…enough of this charade...you can't protect them…you couldn't even protect her.'**_

The demon growled as it stomped towards the Grimm to give it another taste of its fists, but saw that it had already disappeared. It growled angrily seeking another target to maim and destroy…but stopped. It saw…he saw his friends begin to battle the Nevermore once more. He…it…HE had to help them. Darkness evaporating from his eyes, Natsu took in a deep breath as he looked at his hands. The Grimm's essence had stuck to his hands and he quickly shook it off of him. Never again…NEVER!

'… _you can't protect them…you couldn't even protect her.'_

Biting back tears, Natsu shook his head remembered who was still here. Who he could still fight for. _'I'm sorry…please forgive me, Ella. I haven't forgotten you…I never will.'_ Pounding his fist into his open palm, Natsu sprinted forward, ready to give hell to anything that dared to harm his friends. He sprinted towards the Nevermore, seeing Ruby, Yang, Weiss, and Blake fire their weapons at the Nevermore while the creature merely tanked it all. He then ignited his feet and boosted his body towards the screeching winged creature and latched himself onto the creature as it flew straight through the gray, old, decrepit building that blocked its path.

"Hey, Natsu's back!" Ruby yelled, hopping across the falling building debris.

"Took him long enough!" Yang shouted, jumping upwards and smashing the chunks of the destroyed building, which helped to boost her upwards.

"Ugh…late. Something tells me that this is going to be a usual thing." Weiss grumbled, skating across the falling chunks and used her glyph to push her upwards.

"Well, at least he came in the nick of time." Blake muttered, scaling the pillar and throwing Gambol Shroud to hook onto a nearby pillar, which she then used to pull herself up onto.

Yang, shooting herself upwards via Ember Cellica, landed atop a towering, broken pillar and began firing at the Nevermore.

"Hey, watch it! You're almost hitting me!" Natsu shouted at the blonde Huntress.

"Sorry!" She yelled back, and continued firing at the Nevermore once again.

" _Come on, Ruby! Think! Think! There's gotta be a way…gotta be a…that's it!'_ Turning to Weiss, she yelled, "I have a plan! Cover me!" Shooting herself upwards to fight the creature, she shot herself towards higher ground. She then ran towards Jaune and the others to let them know when they were needed for her plan.

Natsu gritted his teeth and suddenly jerked back. Crawling closer to the monster's beak, Natsu saw Yang firing her bullets into the creature's mouth. "I!" Another. "HOPE!" Another. "YOU'RE!" Another. "HUN-" Another. "-GRY!" She yelled angrily, causing the beast to roar in anger. Giving a wink to the dragon slayer, she suddenly backflipped off of the monster and rolled onto one of the walkways of the old temple below.

"Welp…guess it's my turn." Natsu grinned, standing upwards and sprinting to the monster's head. The dragon slayer then jumped upwards and began generating electricity throughout his body as he slammed his fist down onto the creature's body. " **Lightning Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!** " He roared, causing the creature to roar in pain as its body went limp and fell to the floor. Natsu quickly hopped off the creature and performed an action roll to avoid whatever finishing blow the others had planned.

Its body crashed to the floor in agony as it tried to will itself back up. Blake quickly sprinted towards the fallen beast and threw two of her bladed across the creature's frame and sliced them into the ground so the beast was tied to the ground. Weiss, in an effort to assist her endeavor, skid across the floor via her Glyphs and spun Myrtlemaster's dial to change it to ice and froze the bottom portion of the monster's body for good measure. However, the Nevermore's power was slowly returning and began fighting against the ice in an effort to break out. Ruby then signaled to the other Jaune's group to engage the creature before it escaped. Jaune, gulping silently, suddenly unsheathed his sword and led the charge towards the creature. He signaled Ren to fire upon the creature's weak point, its head, and the Chinese teen hopped on top of the monster and fired point blank into it eyes, effectively blinding it. The monster roared in pain as it lost the use of its eyes and began bucking in a frenzy to break free of its icy prison. The blonde Huntsman then signaled Nora to charge towards the beast and, using Pyrrha's shield as a step stool, jumped atop the beast, readying her hammer with plenty of electricity and slammed it straight down onto its beak, effectively breaking it. Finally, the creature, its pain level at its prime, broke free of its icy prison and began to flap its wings to take flight, but thanks to its blindness, it didn't see the falling cloaked girl, who had earlier been shot into the sky via Weiss's glyphs, and readied her scythe and pulled the trigger to give her even more speed and…

 _ **SLICE**_

Roses flew across the battlefield…a final screech of pain was uttered from the beast…its time was at an end. The creature then split in two and both pieces collapsed to the floor and lay still never to move again. The teens stood in awestruck as they saw the Nevermore dead at their feet…they did it. They had succeeded! Not only that…but they did it together. Each using their own set of abilities to their advantage and had triumphed over the force of evil. What could be said…that could top what unbelievably amazing feeling each teen was experiencing right now…

Natsu breathed heavily as he saw what all of them had did together. What he had helped to achieve…the boy smiled as he looked at each of his friends begin to grin at what they had accomplished together. Nothing could spoil this moment…nothing. Closing his eyes and shooting his hands into the air, Natsu screamed, "I'M ALL FIRED UP!" Fire spewed from his fingertips, lighting the cloudy sky with an orange glow.

A new day had begun…

* * *

After the initiation had ended, Ozpin congratulated the groups on a job well done. He then told them that the teams would be chosen in an hour in the auditorium and left the kids to their conversations. An hour then passed and now the groups were standing amongst the crowd just waiting to hear their name called. "Oh man…I'm so nervous. What if I don't get picked? What if I get kicked out? Oh my parents will be so disappointed in me!" Jaune whined, covering his hands with his face.

Natsu rolled his eyes and clapped his friend on the back. "Tell you what. You don't get picked, I burn this entire place to the ground."

"Natsu?!" Pyrrha responded with a look of pure shock.

"What? Pyrrha, I'm obviously joking." Natsu waved her off, which caused her to laugh and turn around with a smile. The dragon slayer then turned to Jaune and mouthed, 'I'm not joking' and winked at the scraggly blonde, causing the blonde to chuckle nervously.

Ozpin that began calling new names to the stage. "Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie."

"WHOOOOOO! Yeah, see told you that you would make it! Haha! WHOOOO!" Natsu cheered, along with the several of their other friends.

"Yaaaay! Go, Jaune!" Ruby yelled, jumping up and down.

"WHOOOOO! YEAH! YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH! Good job, guys! Especially you, Jaune!" Yang bellowed.

Natsu looked at the blonde and was surprised she cared so much about Jaune making it. "Geez, I'm surprised you care so much about whether he made it or not. Didn't seem like you cared for the guy or not."

Yang gasped at hearing that. "Why…I never! Of course I care for him! Jaune is a near and dear friend to me and I am insulted that you wou-"

"Weiss and her made a bet whether or not she would make it. She won. Weiss lost." Blake said, lightly grinning at the depressed look on the Schnee's face.

"You dirty rat!" Yang growled at the amber-eyed girl.

"Ohhhhhhh…I'm happy for him…but sad at the same time! Damn you, J- I mean, good jo-HRGH! I hate yo-ERR! I mean, Ugh, darn these conflicting emotions…" Weiss whined with her head hung low.

Natsu stared at the depressed heiress and then turned toward the nervously grinning blonde. "I expected this from her, but not from you. FOR SHAME!" He yelled, slapping his index fingers together in the 'for shame' gesture.

"Booo! For shame!" Ruby agreed, copying the gesture.

"Well you know what, Ruby. I was gonna buy you plenty of food with this dirty money, but now…IT'S ALL MINE!" The blonde Huntress laughed.

"Nooooooooooo!" Ruby collapsed to the ground in despair.

"Ahem." A voice rang out via a microphone. The group then turned to see Ozpin staring at them. "…Are you all finished?"

The group flushed with embarrassment, while Natsu continued his for shame gesture, and motioned for Ozpin to continue.

"Thank you." He said, moving back to look at the students on stage. "The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as…Team JNPR. Lead by…Jaune Arc!"

Jaune suddenly whipped his head back to look at the headmaster in shock. "L-Lead by…?"

"Congratulations, young man." Ozpin smiled.

Pyrrha smiled at her friend's achievement and socked him on the arm for good measure. Unfortunately, she failed to calculate how…strong she was compared to him and knocked him on his butt. Laughter rang throughout the crowd at seeing the young teen be knocked on his feet. Jaune lowered his head in dejection at this until…

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Natsu roared, fire spewing from his mouth and flooded towards the ceiling in a fiery eruption. "The next person I hear laughing is gonna get my fiery foot so far up their ass, they're gonna need permission from me before they even think about taking a shit, understand!?" His eyes glaring towards the crowd, causing the laughter to disperse accordingly. "Yeah…now keep those mouths shut."

Ozpin smiled as he saw the boy's obvious loyalty to his friend and continued on with his speech. "And finally, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long."

The four girls then smiled as their names were called up and headed atop the stage. "YEAH! WHOOOOOOOO! OOOOOOOOOOO! OOOP OOOP OOOOP OOOOP!" Natsu screamed in delight at seeing his friends get called up for their turn.

"The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as…Team RWBY. Lead by…Ruby Rose."

"OHHHHHH SHIT! YEAH! That's my girl! WHOOOOOOOO! RUBY! RUBY! RUBY! RUBY! RUBY! RUBY! RUUUUUUUUUBY!" Natsu roared, jumping up in elation and causing the silver-eyed girl to blush in embarrassment.

"I'm so proud of you!" Yang cheered, hugging her little sister.

"Me too!" The dragon slayer yelled, joining the hug (which the girls did not mind in the least).

Ozpin smiled with joy as he saw his children elated by the joy of being Hunters. "Looks like things are shaping up to be an…interesting year."

"WAIT A MINUTE!" Natsu yelled out into the auditorium, getting everyone's attention. "Where the hell is my team at?! C'mon, I did the initiation and passed…what gives?!" He shouted angrily at the headmaster.

Ozpin chuckled at seeing the boy so riled up. "Ah yes…you see, thanks to your arrival, the amount of students have been…raised."

"NO SHIT! That's what happens when you get more students! The number of students…RISES!" The dragon slayer growled, stomping his foot angrily.

"Well…thanks to my poor memory, I seem to have miscalculated the proper amount of students which means…you'll have to remain without a team. Unless, someone would like to volunteer their-" Ozpin began until he was interrupted.

"OOOOOOO OOOOOOO OOOOOO! Pick us, Mr. Ozpin! Us us! Pleeeeeeeease! We'll take extra special good care of him! Honest!" Ruby begged, while raising her hand in the air.

Slapping his hand to his face, Natsu grumbled, "Ruby…for the last time, I'm not a pet!"

"Well…if you promise that you'll take extra special good care for him, then why not?" Ozpin agreed, delighting in seeing the boy's glare pointed straight at him.

' _My god…he's a troll too! Have I met my match?! No…no I won't be beaten by this silver-haired, mug-drinking out of- motherfucker!'_ Natsu opened his mouth to speak before he was bombarded with a petite and busty body in a dog pile. His body fell to the floor, with his face being pushed back by a busty breast along with a more petite one. _'Oh no…four girls…one guy…one room…the HORROR! …or was it Heaven? Oh well, someone help me!'_

* * *

 _ **Outskirts of Patch**_

A lone grave lie behind a familiar small cottage. Atop it, lie several bouquets of flower. The grave was being blocked by the flowers so the first name was covered, but the last name was not, which read:

Here lies….Ella. A true friend that blocked the darkness within my heart. Truly your presence is a loss to this cold world. May we meet again soon…wherever that may be.

 **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND THAT'S A WRAP! For the record, that's heaven, Natsu. BUUUUUUUUT, anyways, I just want to once again say thank you for all the support I've been getting for this fic. It REALLY means the world to me when I see any of my stories get another favorite, follow, and especially a review. So, thanks for the support because that's what keeps me coming back to type up these chapters. Now, as you can see, Natsu will be more like…a volunteer when it comes to joining teams. He's not officially on team RWBY because…well what the fuck would you call the team? Team RWBYN? Team RNWBY? I...haha…I don't know. If any of you can give me ideas as to what not only a team name could come from Natsu "joining" Team RWBY, but also Team JNPR or Team CFVY or fuck….maybe even Team STRQ…probably not the last one, but hey? Why not, right? Hell, if you wanna give me other names for those teams that show up for the Vytal festival then why not? Haha…**

 **Anyways, I have once again created a poll for the beautiful older women in RWBY and if you haven't cast your vote…then do it as fast as possible because I will take it down soon. As for Pyrrha…WELCOME TO THE HAREM! Most chose Natsu over Jaune so…sorry Jauney boy, but I won't let you be alone. I'll still give you plenty of love amongst your teammates as well as other people as well. Also, as for Nora….NO HAREM FOR YOU! Sorry, Nora, but people said you were better suited with Ren. Plus, I'm already kinda stealing Pyrrha so…yeah. As for Coco and Velvet, I leave that up to you as well!**

 **Plus, if any of you have any idea as to what I'm planning in this story…feel free to guess in a review. I'm a fellow theorist myself so I welcome any guesses or theories you have as to what the hell is going on with Natsu and his past.**

 **So, if you liked this chapter, please leave a favorite, follow, and REVIEW!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'M BAAAAAAAAACK! OOOOOOO boy, I cannot wait to begin again on another chapter. Now, FYI, I'm gonna be following the canon episodes a bit…slow for now. Why, is because I kinda wanna focus on key character relationships for a while before say, Jaune starts getting bullied or Blake runs away. Now, I love these characters with all my heart, but…the focus on their friendship wasn't really…well a major focus at times. Not that I'm detracting from the show, but seeing as how this is fanfiction and I can take this story WHEREVER I WANT…I choose to focus on the relationships between the various characters. Plus, I need to show just how say Weiss falls in love with Natsu, Blake falls in love with Natsu, Weiss falls for Ruby, Blake falls for Yang, Yang falls for Blake while being in love with Natsu, etc…geez this is all gonna get confusing haha. But hey, I'm pretty sure it's gonna be a blast to write!**

 **Disclaimer: In the first chapter.**

After the ceremony had concluded, the various teams were given directions to their specific rooms and were given the good news that they had received a week off for passing their initiations. Most were happy about this arrangement, while other nerds…err…the academically superior (i.e. Weiss) were disappointed that they had to wait to show their academic superiority. Night had now descended and Glynda had informed the teens that a strict curfew was still in effect regardless of whether there was any school. So, team RWBY, as Ruby was proud to call them, along with Natsu carried their briefcases or whatever they placed their belongings in walked through the long hallway that housed their room. "Ooooooh man! This is soooooooooo awesome! We're a team! And not just a team, but the future best team in all of Huntsman history! I can see it now…people dressing up as us and going to conventions with replicas of our weapons. Ah….it's heaven." Ruby sighed happily as she looked at the door that blocked her from her new housing.

"You mean, cosplaying? You know they already do that…at least for like comic book characters and anime ones too." Natsu said, crossing his arms.

"Are you comparing us to anime characters?" Blake asked, holding her belongings close at hand protectively.

Natsu shrugged. "Well…weird hair, magical school that trains people with special abilities, and dangerous enemy that threatens to destroy all life as we know it…yup. Sounds like a pretty cliché comic or anime to me." He grinned.

"Oh superb. Now we get hear more of your superfluous quips in spades now that we're living with you…hooray." Weiss mumbled, pushing open the door to their new room.

"Pshh trust me, you'll love my quips when you get absolutely sick of Yang's shitty puns." Natsu snarked, hopping into the room.

Yang however took offense to that. "Hey! My puns are comedy gold! Just you watch. One of these days you'll hear an entire room laugh from one of my HIGHlarious puns!" She cheered with a grin, holding out her hands in anticipation for the obvious applause she would receive.

Silence ensued…

Everyone looked at the girl with a deadpan stare as they dispersed to different parts of the room. "Oh come on! That was supreme comedy gold right there! You people just have no taste for good comedy." The blonde Huntress grumbled, kicking her suitcase over.

Natsu waved his hand across the room with an emotionless stare. "You hear that….nothing. Shit, there weren't even any crickets chirping after that horrific pun. Probably because they all killed themselves rather than fill the silence."

"Ah to hell with you!" Yang grumbled, waving off the salmon-haired boy as she leapt onto the bed in preparation for her bedtime. She tussled with the sheets of the bed and suddenly leapt off of the bed to the surprise of the others.

"What's wrong, Yang? Bed bugs bite you?…COOOOOL! Are there any bedbugs in there! I've never actually seen one before! Quick, Yang, catch one!" Ruby yelled, hopping onto the bed and searched for any living bed bug.

Weiss slapped a hand onto her face as she watched their "leader" in action. "Ruby, I seriously doubt that there are any bed bugs present in the linens of our sheets seeing as this is a highly prestigious school."

Ruby looked back at the white-haired girl with a squinted gaze. "And that's what they would want you to think! Think about it, what would happen if people found out that there was a bed bug infestation in Beacon….mass hysteria would ensue! People would never ever trust Huntsman or Huntresses again! They'd always look at them with a look that said, "Ewwwww…I bet those Huntsman or Huntresses slept on bed bug sheets. I bet there skin looks nasty under their clothes. Just look at that black and red-haired girl! I bet she has lots and lots of disgusting hives on her skin. Let's never be friends with her and then she'll die a friendless nobody and….and…" …I'm sad now." She muttered, collapsing on the floor in shame.

Blake, Natsu and Weiss looked at each other with looks of pure bewilderment as they looked back to the now standing blonde Huntress. "The bed's too hard." She mumbled and hopped onto another bed. After another couple seconds of fumbling around the sheets, Yang hopped off and mumbled, "Too soft…" Once again, she jumped onto the third of the four beds and felt around the mattress of the bed. This time, however, she lay back with a small smile on the bed and uttered, "Ahhh…now this one is juuuuuust….LIKE THE FIRST ONE! Too hard!" Hopping off the bed, Yang stomped back towards the bed she labeled too soft and jumped onto it.

"Oooooookay then. That was….tedious and unneeded, but hey…what the fuck, right? So, if…wait a minute…one…two…three…four…four beds?! There are only four beds here!? What the fuck! Where the hell am I supposed to sleep?!" Natsu growled, turning to the white-haired and black-haired girl only to see that he was now standing alone. Quickly turning his head, the dragon slayer now saw that the two girls had stolen the other two beds which left…only one. He then turned his head to see Ruby staring at the bed and looking back to him. They both eyed the other up, squinting their eyes as if a showdown was close at hand and the fate of some old, little town like in the movies was in their hands. "This bed ain't big enough for the two of us." Natsu said with thick accent.

"No…it ain't." The cloaked girl responded with her own squinted gaze. The two's hands dropped to their sides as they circled one another just waiting for one of them to make a move.

"Are they serious?" The heiress asked, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Looks like it." Blake replied, opening her briefcase and grabbing a book to pass the time.

Yang however was enjoying watching the spectacle. "Yeah! Let's see some mayhem, you two! C'mon, Natsu, show my little sister what's what! Or, Ruby, show Natsu that latent body that surges through your tiny body!" She yelled, jumping atop her soft bed.

"That sounds oddly kinky…" The amber-eyed girl mumbled, subtly eyeing the smut book she had recently bought before entering this school.

The busty Huntress grinned as she heard the amber-eyed girl's words. "Oh yeah...oh wait, ewww…why the heck is that turning me on? Never before have I been so disgusted with myself, yet at the same time so pleased…hmm, I think I like it…while at the same time hating it…hmm." She muttered, her fingers tilted her chin upwards while her eyes slightly glazed over.

Weiss just stared at the immoral blonde Huntress with her jaw slightly open. "How shameless are you?!" She yelled, covering her own body lest this lustful lass get any ideas.

"Umm…you know we can hear you, right?" Natsu said flatly, staring emotionlessly at the three. Neither Blake nor Yang responded as they were both trapped in their own smutty fantasies (which strangely both concerned certain people in this room) while the white-haired lass merely used the sheets to cover her body to protect her brittle, pale body from any perverted thoughts. The dragon slayer rolled his eyes and turned back to see that the hooded girl had disappeared and moved his head to see the little girl jumping on the last bed with her tongue sticking out in a playful fashion.

"I win!" Ruby teased, pulling her eyelid to taunt the salmon-haired boy.

"Hey, you cheated! I wasn't lookin' for like a couple seconds! I want a do-over!" Natsu shouted, pointing at the silver-eyed girl.

Suddenly, the blonde Huntress slammed her hand into her open palm. "That's it! That's what it would be called, a do-over! Oh man, that would be soooooo HOT! I can see it now…our bodies naked…writhing around a-"

"YANG!" Natsu screamed out, waking the blonde woman up from her stupor.

"W-What?" She asked, realizing within a couple of seconds what she said and shut her mouth.

Weiss peeked up slightly from her covers after hearing that particularly smutty description from the busty blonde. "Are you all naked yet?"

"WHAT?! Ok, seriously, what the hell is wrong with all of you?! Did you all unknowingly ingest some weird drug or something before coming in here? *gasp* Did you drink some of Ozpin's mysterious ooze? C'mon, there are obviously drugs in there!" The dragon slayer exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air.

"What the heck are you talking about, dolt? Ozpin doesn't take drugs! And neither do I! The only reason I asked is because for some reason you three have some…weird kind of relationship with one another. Who knows what kind of weird… 'things' you three do to one another." The white-haired girl whispered, narrowing her eyes at the dragon slayer.

The dragon slayer's jaw dropped down as he stared at the heiress with eyes full of incredulity. "WHOA! Hold on there! Nothing like 'getting naked' or 'our bodies writhing n- UGH! I can't even say it! That's all just Yang's sick perverted fantasies! I, however, am no pervert! Natsu Dragneel may be a crass man. He may be somewhat of an asshole. His humor may be ridden with poor jokes and snarky comments. BUT, he is no pervert!"

"LIES! I've seen you staring at me and my sister's bodies before!" Yang accused the salmon-haired boy with a point of her finger.

"What planet are you living on?! Perverntia?! …that sounds lame. Hold on…umm…" Natsu mumbled, rubbing his head to think of something else.

"Deubacheria?" Blake said with a raised eyebrow, confused as to why she actually cared about this subject.

Natsu waved his finger at the amber-eyed lass with a grin. "Clever, but I feel it's a bit too pretentious. Sorta something Weiss would come up with."

"HEY!" The heiress yelled out, annoyed that at her…well, while she may be maybe a bit pretentious, it was only to show the group that she was capable of carrying her weight…and that wasn't just an excuse to show her intellectual dominance over anyone. Not at all…

"It's true, Weiss. You are kinda…pertentious." Ruby agreed with a smile.

"Ruby, he said pretentious." The black-haired Huntress retorted with a blank stare.

The cloaked girl merely threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. "Ugh, that's what I said. Pertenious!"

The fire mage smacked his face at the girl's severe lack in vocabularic skills and remembered a time where he was severely lacking in that department. "Ok, Ruby. Next thing on your list of 'how to be a better leader' is this: buy a dictionary and read it."

"Ewww…I hate reading." She replied, sticking out her tongue in disgust.

"Well, trust me when I say, it REALLY helps. Plus, once you master it, your prose will be enriched to levels far beyond your previous aptitude and can henceforth move forthright into becoming a courageous and perceptive leader." The dragon slayer smiled, proud of his newfound abilities to use more difficult terms concerning his speech.

"Wow…and you call me pretentious." The white-haired Schnee shook her head in disbelief, somewhat shocked to hear the salmon-haired dolt use terminologies she believed to be far beyond his comprehension…perhaps she was wrong about him after all.

The fire mage smiled and nodded his head as he slowly stepped forward closer to Ruby's bed. "Yes, yes…I admit what I said was sort of pretentious, but I said all that to prove a p-" He suddenly stopped and lunged on top of the cloaked-girl and struggled to push her off the bed. "C'mon, Ruby! You're small so you can just-HRGH! You're stronger than you look!" Natsu yelled, laughing as he rolled atop her.

As the toned body of the salmon-haired boy crashed onto the smaller silver-eyed girl, she had to fight with all her might not to turn all red from the excitement she was currently feeling at her crush rolling on top of her on a bed. "Never! Finders keepers, losers-OWIE! No pinching!" She growled, snapping her fingers together to attack the salmon-haired boy with her own pinches. Her fingers quickly snapped up a part of the boy's cheek as he yelped in light pain.

Blake held a small smile atop her lips as she watched the two bumble around like children. While this lightheartedness was a bit irritating at times…it was certainly better than the alternative she had felt throughout her time with…She shook her head at this morose thought and returned to the book she was currently reading. Yang, however, was smiling as she saw the two go at it and wondered if perhaps her newfound idea of a "Do-Over" was indeed possible. Four girls…one guy…oh what grand sexual adventures would they-geez…maybe she was a bit of a pervert. Besides, Natsu was hers! Maybe, if she was in a good mood, she could find it in her heart to share him with her baby sister, but that was it! After all, the blonde Huntress barely knew these…these hussies! Nonetheless, neither of the two showed any romantic interest in the salmon-haired boy and she had to make sure it stood that way!

After a bit more rumbling and tumbling, Natsu stopped pinching the girl and rolled over in defeat, laying his head down on her stomach. The silver-eyed girl fought for breath in that enduring fight and smiled as she felt her crush atop her body and blushed. Luckily for her, the dragon slayer chalked up her red face to just the exertion her body must have been going through in their little "pinching session." "Ugh…so where am I supposed to sleep then?" Natsu whined. He then turned to his head when he heard a light patting noise to his left. Turning his head, the dragon slayer saw Yang, with a peculiar smile, patting the spot next to her. "No." He deadpanned.

"What? Why not? I mean, where else are you gonna sleep?" Yang asked with incredulity.

Weiss then smiled as she pointed her finger up in the air. "He can sleep in the bathtub."

"WHAT?! The bathtub! Seriously?! You four are just going to force me, a human being, to squish myself into a tiny bathtub just so you can-oh who am I kidding, neither of you really care, do you?" Natsu growled.

"Nope." The heiress grinned, checking her nails nonchalantly.

"I feel bad…but I prefer this bed above all else." Blake agreed, flipping the page of her book.

"Well, I mean…this bed is pretty comfy and you can TOTALLY sleep here if you want. M-Meaning, you don't have to if you feel uncomfortable, b-but hey, you get a soft bed to lie in w-with m-me-ERR um, I m-mean, um…I'm going to bed!" Ruby yelled, turning over, which forced the salmon-haired boy to hop off the bed, and threw the covers over her and pretended to go to sleep. "Zzzzzz…Zzzzzzz…Zzzzzz"

"Ruby…we can tell you're faking." Her older sister shook her head, facepalming at her sister's social awkwardness.

"Zzzzz…I am sleeping…Zzzzz…sleeping noises…" The small girl whispered underneath her covers.

Natsu simply sighed as he trudged to the bathtub in depression. "Fine! Whatever I'll just sleep in the tub then."

"What?! C'mon, I give you a free bed with a beautiful woman and you just…choose the bathtub?" Yang shouted in disbelief, throwing her arms up in the air.

Natsu just grinned as he turned around. "Hehe pretty much! Hah-YIKES!" He yelped, dodging one of Yang's yellow boots. "Geez, you crazy blonde psycho, would yo-AH SHIT!" The dragon slayer yelled again, running into the bathroom and shut the door as the blonde Huntress threw numerous more objects at him.

"Jerk…" She mumbled, jumping back onto her bed and threw the covers over her as well.

"Well, I suppose it is time to get our rest. While we don't have school tomorrow…to my displeasure, I still think we should use the time wisely t-" Weiss began until…

"Boring! Can't you be fun for once in your life?" Natsu shouted from within the restroom

"Oh…quiet you! At least, I don't have to sleep in a bathtub you…you dolt!" The heiress screamed back.

"Wow…gee, haven't heard that before! That really hurt my feelings. Shit, I should just like leave campus from that harsh burn ya gave me. Ouch…" Natsu replied in a monotone voice.

Weiss then jumped out of her bed and began banging on the door harshly. "GRRRRR…I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"

Natsu laughed as he grabbed a couple towels to act as a pillow and folded them together as he laid down into the bathtub. "Yeah, yeah, I hear ya, Weiss. I love you too. But don't tell anyone else, ok? Who knows what the paparazzi would think that you fell in love with a dolt like me."

Weiss hit the door one final time with her foot and- "OUCH! Owie! Ooooooo stupid, Natsu!" She grumbled as she hopped back to her bed and threw herself atop it. _'Pshh…fall in love with him. Please, I have a better chance of falling in love with our leader than him!'_ Mumbling to herself, she covered herself with her blankets and fell back onto her pillow.

Blake, seeing as how everyone was readying themselves for bed, made carefully sure she placed her bookmark into her book and closed it shut. Placing it back into her briefcase, she followed her teammates ritual of readying themselves for bed and turned off the lamp. _'Well, while this isn't how I thought being a Huntress would be like…I suppose I should at least try to give this team thing chance…I just hope it doesn't go as bad as last time.'_ The amber-eyed girl thought to herself as she closed her eyes.

Drip…drop…drip…drop...drip…drop…drop…drip…drip…drop

Natsu's eye twitched as he turned his head to hear the leaky faucet in the bathroom continue to splash down onto the porcelain tub. "Ugh…who am I kidding? No way I'm gonna fall asleep in this stupid fuckin' tub!" He growled, trying to move around to find a more comfortable spot in the bathtub. Tossing and turning, Natsu finally conceded defeat and lie still as he stared up at the ceiling. _'Who am I kidding? It's not the tub, as uncomfortable as it is. Shit, I've slept in worse places, but…ugh. I can't do this. Being a hero…pshh…or I guess a Huntsman people call it nowadays. Change the name however you like, I can't be one. Not after…ugh.'_ The fire mage sighed as he pulled himself out of the tub and looked at himself in the mirror. "Better not be a fucking dream again." He mumbled, staring at his own reflection and waited for it to change…but it didn't. "Okay, I'm awake then." He whispered, opening the door to the bathroom. As he walked outside of it, he turned his head to look at the four girls who would be his "team." "*sigh* You girls have no idea what you signed up for. You think you can just carry a weapon, give yourself a title, and then presto! You think you're ready to save the world. This world…it can't be saved. Not with these… _monsters_ running amok. You can't save this world anymore than I could save-" Natsu stopped himself, holding a hand to cover his now watery eyes. Taking a couple deep breaths, he gathered himself once again and nodded. _'I can't save the world…but I can save you four. Along with everyone else I care about. No way in hell am I losing anyone else.'_ Gathering his regular clothes and closing the door to the bathroom, he quickly changed and exited the room with one final glance at his team and smiled.

Closing the door, Natsu quickly made his way outside towards the front of the school. After he finally found his way outside, Natsu took one big intake of air and fell to the floor and began doing push-ups. "One…two…three…four…five…" _'C'mon…gotta get back into the swing of things! For far too long, I've been slacking in my training. Now that I have something to protect again…I'm gonna make damn sure I'm back in my prime and then some!'_ Gritting his teeth as he pushed his body up for the hundredth time, he hopped upwards and began sprinting down the long walkway towards the airstrip. His legs exerted themselves as his body realized that once again the boy was training for a pure cause once again. Never again would he have to watch as he lost someone he loved…never.

Unbeknownst to the salmon-haired boy, two figures atop a tower were watching his endeavors. "What did I tell you, Glynda. The boy has a fire in him that is just yearning to rise. All he needs is just something to fight for…or perhaps, some ones to fight for." Ozpin smiled, taking a sip of whatever was in that mug of his.

Glynda stared at how hard the boy was pushing himself, watching with great interest as the boy began benchpressing a huge boulder in the grassy area of the walkway. The way his muscles seemed to bulge with each…the blonde woman then coughed as she sought to regain herself, lest the Headmaster gain wind of what she was beginning to think. "Y-Yes, he is quite…determined it seems. However, only time will tell just how far that determination will take him."

Ozpin nodded as he took in the words of his most trusted confidant. "Yes, yes we will, won't we?"

 **AAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNDDDDDDDD THAT'S A WRAP! YES! Another chapter done, son! Haha I love writing this story! I love these characters so it makes it easier to sit down on a chair for what seems like HOURS and type this damn thing up. Now, like I said in the beginning, I'm gonna be taking a slow tread towards the canon route. Don't get me wrong, I will be following canon…somewhat seeing as how Natsu will probably switch some things up, but for the most part, things will mostly stay the same. I just wanna focus somewhat on the interactions with the characters. I want to believe that these people are friends, and while they may have their differences, there's not a damn thing they wouldn't do for any of their loved ones. So, I'll be taking careful measures for Natsu, as well as the others, to intermingle with one another through probably somewhat short chapters, but hey, that means the romantic flings will probably being faster ;).**

 **BTW, WOW! I am seriously shocked people REALLY wanna see the older women in Natsu's harem. Haha I was suspecting that there would be a huge majority that would say 'no', but 'yes' is a clear winner! So…WINTER, GLYNDA, RAVEN (I'm so scared to write her with Natsu XD) WELCOME TO THE HAREM! Seriously though, Raven is probably gonna fuck up Natsu no matter what haha…sorry Natsu. But hey, maybe she won't…maybe.**

 **Anyways, if you enjoyed this chapter, then please favorite, follow, and REVIEW!**


	7. Chapter 7

**HELLO! Welcome to chapter 7 of Remnants of a Demon! I just want to take some time to thank all the people who took the time to favorite, follow and write a review. That all means a lot to me and I want to make sure I tell you all that. Anyways, without further ado…**

 **Disclaimer: In the first chapter**

A quiet wind blew throughout the grassy plain, waking the sleeping dragon slayer from his slumber. Natsu's eyes slowly peeked open as the bright rays of sunshine broke free from the clouds and into his eyes. Covering his eyes with his hand, the dragon slayer took a look around to see that he was face-first in the grass where he had been training last night. _'Guess I fell asleep while training. Ugh…my body feels like shit. Well, guess that's what I get for not training for all these years. And who say's being a lazy ass pays off?'_ The fire mage grunted as he pushed his body up from the ground, his muscles slightly aching from being whipped back into shape. "Hrgh…ok, this is gonna be a process, isn't it?" He mumbled to himself, finally standing on his two legs again. Taking a deep breath, Natsu lightly stumbled as he stepped forward, but caught himself just in time. Grunting, he pushed himself upwards again and began slowly walking back to his room.

After what seemed like forever, the dragon slayer willed his body towards the door to him and his team's room and opened it. Taking careful measures to be as quiet as possible, he tiptoed inside and closed the door as quietly as he could. Seeing that nobody had been awaken from their slumber, the salmon-haired boy sighed in relief as he then sighed in despair as he realized where his "bed" was. He glared at the white-haired Schnee-devil seeing as she was the one who suggested his living arrangements, if you called sleeping in a bathtub living anyways, and opened the bathroom door. He then shambled inside, his muscles sore as all hell, and lowered himself as slow as he possibly could. Grabbing the towels he had used for a pillow last night, Natsu placed them under his head and shut his eyes and waited for the sandman to take him aw-

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

…Fucking seriously?

"ALRIGHT! TIME TO WAKE UP!" A certain boisterous sliver-eyed girl screamed out, jumping out of her bed. Seeing her lazy teammates were barely waking up she smiled triumphantly and bounded over to the middle of the room.

Yang pulled the covers over her head as she tried to drown out her little sister's voice. "Ruby…why are you awake this early? There's no school!" She growled. The blonde Huntress was no morning person after all…

Weiss rubbed her eyes as she raised her body from her bed. "…Please tell me I'm still sleeping."

"Nope you're awake…unfortunately." Blake mumbled, stretching her limbs.

"C'mon, Team RWBY! You know the old saying, 'The early worm gets the bird!'" Ruby smiled.

"Ruby…it's the 'The early bird gets the worm.' Why would a worm get the-ugh, it's too early for your stupidity." The ice queen grumbled, rubbing the sides of her head to alleviate the headache their "leader" was giving her.

The silver-eyed girl looked down at the floor with her hand underneath her chin. "Really? Hmm…I guess that does sound kinda weird. I mean, why would a worm get the-well, it sorta makes sense if you think about it. I mean, the w-"

"RUBY, GO BACK TO BED!" Yang shouted at her younger sister, causing Ruby to shriek and hop back into her bed. Weiss and Blake covered their ears as they heard the loud shout echoed from the blonde girl and made a mental note not to bug her in the morning from now on. After a couple of seconds, she threw the covers away from her and grumbled as she got up from her bed.

"I thought you-" Weiss started to ask Yang until she was interrupted by a finger in the air.

"I…am not a morning person. I love my sister, so she gets a pass…this time, but know this. If any of you wake me up again like that…I will personally use every ounce of my willpower to make your life a living hell." She snarled, turning back to glare angrily at her three teammates. "Do I make myself clear?"

The three gulped nervously as they nodded their heads simultaneously.

"Good." Yang growled. Seeing as she was now unable to go back to sleep, she thought to herself that she might as well take a shower to alleviate herself from her sleepiness. Walking to the bathroom, she opened the door to-

"HEY! I'm sleeping here!" Natsu shouted at her, until she grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and tossed him out of the bathroom and onto the floor, shutting the door behind her. "Ugh…Ruby, why?" He whispered, his body still aching.

Peeking from her blankets, Ruby offered the boy an apologetic smile. "S-Sorry. I forgot Yang wasn't much of a morning person…no wonder she was always late to class."

"Well, thanks a lot. Now we're all awake thanks to you. Not like any of us were having any pleasant dreams." Weiss said to the silver-eyed girl, annoyed that she was awoken from the most glorious dream. There she was, hand-picked by Ozpin himself to be the leader of Team WRBY and applause rained down on her as she smiled and waved. Instead though…she was awoken back into reality where she was no leader, but her partner instead! Look, she had nothing against Ruby…at least not as much as she did before, but this little girl was ill-adept to be leader of a team of Huntresses. For goodness sakes, she still- "Ruby…are you picking your nose?" She asked her "leader", watching with disgust as she saw the black and red-haired girl shift her index finger around her nostril.

Seeing that she had been caught, Ruby quickly shoved the finger down onto her bed and grinned nervously. "N-No! Maybe you were just picking your nose and you just thought I was…yeah!"

"Ruby, you're a terrible liar." Blake sighed, seeing how there was no way out for the young silver-eyed girl. _'Maybe I spoke too soon with all this hope of friendship with these people…'_ She shook her head as she hopped out of her bed and began unpacking her things.

Weiss soon followed suit after seeing the amber-eyed girl proceed in unpacking her belongings.

Natsu sighed as he saw that Ruby desperately needed to change herself, or at least conduct herself in a better manner in front of her teammates. Otherwise, there was no way in hell these people could ever hope to work together. Taking a deep sigh, Natsu pulled himself upwards and stopped when he heard his stomach grumble. _'Ok, first things first, breakfast.'_ "Alright, well, while you all unpack, I'm gonna go and eat. I'm SUPER hungry right now, so I'll just meet you all down in the cafeteria." He said to his new team, opening the door.

"OK! Save us a table!" Ruby yelled to her crush, getting a thumbs up from him. Smiling to herself, she hopped out of her bed and began following her teammate's actions and started unpacking her stuff. _'Ok, Ruby! Stay positive! Today's a new day and you're gonna make sure that your teammates see you as a super cool girl! Yeah!…well, hopefully anyways.'_

* * *

Entering the cafeteria, the sore dragon slayer piled as much food as he possibly could onto his plate and walked to an empty table. The place was damn near empty. Only a couple of kids were up this early right now; a bunny-eared Faunus, a couple of 'tough guys' led by some brown-haired guy in tan armor, and a couple of other people. Strange how every other person seemed like a generic cut-out of the same person just with different hair or skin. _'Hmm…maybe there's some kind of cloning in this place? Ah who gives a fuck. But seriously, what the hell is up with all of these similar looking people in this place?'_ Shrugging to himself, Natsu began scooping some scrambled eggs into his mouth until he jumped up as he heard a tray slam down loudly next to him. Jumping slightly aback, the fire mage stared up in shock as he saw Nora grinning wildly with a tray almost as filled as his.

"HEY, HALLWAY BUDDY! You know, I was gonna say Roomie, but then I remembered you don't sleep in the same room as us, but if you think about it, hallway buddies are almost just as good as roomies! …Almost anyways. No offense." Nora grinned, shoving a pancake into her mouth.

Natsu just looked around and stared at the girl in shock as to how she could have possibly zipped over to him so fast. _'The hell is she so fast!? Does she have a speed Semblance too? Or does she just shoot caffeine into her veins?!'_ He then turned to see the rest of Team JNPR behind the hyperactive orange-haired girl. They all calmly set their trays onto their table (strangely though Pyrrha was the only one that sat on his side).

"I'm really sorry for Nora's actions. She's just…she's…" Ren apologized, trying to come up with a definitive answer for Nora's special brand of wackiness.

"Crazy? Bizarre? Outlandish? Zany? Buddy, I got a list of adjectives for her if you wanna borrow one." Natsu chuckled.

"OOOOOOO I like Zany! Pick that one, Ren!" She laughed, tapping Ren on the shoulder rapidly as Ren just sighed.

The dragon slayer just shook his head at the two's odd relationship and continued eating. "So, how'd everything work out for you all last night?" He asked the four, hoping that he wasn't the only one with crappy living arrangements. Call him an asshole, but misery liked company, and boy oh boy, did Natsu need some.

Jaune scratched his cheek. "Well…it could've been worse. Nora wanted to make bunk beds because things were kinda cramped up inside, but we made it work by-"

"OH! BUNK BEDS! Why didn't I think of that?! Oh man, that could be my saving grace and I…oh thank whatever deity commands this awkward, lanky vessel, but Jaune…thank you!" Natsu cried out, waving his hands in the air as if he was in a trance.

"I'm not that lanky…" Jaune mumbled, wiggling his arms to see why people continued calling him that.

The others simply watched with odd looks on their faces, except for Nora who just grinned as she followed the boy's actions. Pyrrha then tried to change the subject back to its original one. "So, umm, how is everything in your room going?"

The dragon slayer turned to her with a grin. "Great! I'm sleeping in a bathtub! Ain't that grand?!"

Pyrrha nodded, but then did a shocked double-take at the boy's answer. "Y-You're sleeping in a bathtub?"

"Yup…doesn't my life suck?" The salmon-haired boy continued grinning.

"But, isn't that bad for your back? Not to mention unsanitary!" The red-haired Huntress argued, trying to get to the bottom of why her friend could possibly want to sleep in a tub.

Nora, however, just blew her off. "Oh Pyrrha, relax. Sleeping in a tub isn't that bad! I used to do it plenty of times. Ah the good old days…oh wait, those were bad days actually. Ah…the bad old days…" The teal-eyed girl sighed, a strange grin plastered on her face.

"Ok, hold on, first, that sounds like a very interesting story and I wanna hear it one day, Nora." Natsu pointed to her with a smile, getting a happy nod from her. "Second, I had no choice. There were no more beds! Where else could I sleep?!" He asked, throwing his hands up in the air.

"A sleeping bag?" Pyrrha replied.

"The floor?" Ren retorted.

"The bathtu-oh wait, you already slept there. Umm, on a…mattress I guess?" Jaune shrugged.

"On a bed of pancakes!" Nora growled, devouring even more pancakes.

Natsu just stared at the table with a dead look on his face. "Fuck…" He muttered, slamming his head on the tabletop. "Ugh…brain damage. So much brain damage." The fire mage mumbled in pain.

Pyrrha merely patted the salmon-haired boy on the back as he grumbled to himself. "Care to change the subject?"

"I'll love you forever if you do." Natsu replied, eager to push his stupidity out of the conversation.

Lightly blushing, Pyrrha stuttered, "O-OKAY! U-Umm, s-so, d-did any of you sleep fine last night?" _'Oh drat! Pyrrha, that's pretty much the same subject! Ugh, why did he have to say that! Oh, now all of these confusing feelings are just…MMMMMMMMM'_ The scarlet-haired girl stomped lightly, unknowingly using her semblance because of her flustered state to move everyone's plate to the right.

Unfortunately for Jaune, that caused his plate to fall onto the floor. "OOOOOOOOOOOOH! Why oh why does fate hate me!" He screamed in despair.

Natsu just pushed his plate to the depressed lanky teen, taking a couple of pancakes for himself, and said, "Take it. Not that hungry anymore. Besides, looks like you need it more than me." Staring at the boy's gangly physique.

"HEY! Not all of us can be muscle-bound Adonis's like you, you know. Some of us…are just born weak." Jaune mumbled to himself, pushing around the eggs with his fork.

"Stop that, Jaune. You're not weak. You proved that during the initiation." Pyrrha told him, trying to comfort her leader before his morose thoughts could affect him negatively.

The blonde Huntsman just shook his head. "No, I just told you all what to do. Big whoop. You're all the ones who took down the beast. Unlike me, lovable Ol' Jaune, the guy who watched while all his friends fought for their lives…yup, that's me."

"Come on, Jaune. Your leadership was the catalyst to our victory. Without you, I'm sure we would have failed." Ren patted the blonde teen's back.

Nora spit out her orange juice, causing Pyrrha, thanks to her heighted reflexes, to grab Natsu and pull him to her chest to avoid the spit take. "YOU MEAN WE COULD'VE DIED?! …Oh man, that would've sucked! I still haven't climbed Mount Glenn bucknaked while hogtying a Grimm with my bare feet." Nora gasped.

"…Nora, remember what we talked about? You know, how you should say something in your head before actually saying it." The Chinese teen sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Rolling her eyes, Nora responded, "Well, Ren, it's not like there's always time for that. Duh!"

Seeing that the crisis was averted, Pyrrha sighed in relief until she heard a muffled groan of pain. She suddenly looked down and realized just who was shoved into her chest…plate. Gasping in shock, the red-haired girl pushed the salmon-haired boy off of her and quickly apologized. "I'm sorry! Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I'm-" She then stopped as he rose a hand to stop her apologies.

Rubbing his forehead in the hopes of alleviating the pain he was feeling, Natsu replied, "Next time, just give me a warning before you that, ok Erza?"

Everyone was surprised to hear the teen get the world-renowned warrior's name wrong. Not to mention the fact that the two were already friends. So how could he possibly have gotten her name wrong? "No, silly! Her name is Pyrrha! Pshh how can you switch a name like that with Erza. *snorts* Amateur." Nora said, shaking her head.

Natsu suddenly froze as he realized what he had said. His entire body stopped dead in its tracks. _'Oh…no. Why…why did I…oh.'_ The dragon slayer lowered his head in sorrow as he realized why he had called Pyrrha…that name. _'I remember…haha…all the times she used to knock my head with her…with her…fuck…'_ He quickly covered his eyes to shield himself from the looks that he must have been getting from the teens at the table. Fuck…why now? Why did Pyrrha have to…remind him of…he couldn't say it. Not her name, or anyone else's. Too much pain was wrapped up inside of them. Just…damn it.

"A-Are you ok, Natsu? Is everything alright?" Pyrrha asked, concerned as to why the salmon-haired boy would be so distraught at merely getting her name wrong.

Natsu sniffed loudly. "Uh y-yeah! Just umm…hehe embarrassed at my mistake. I mean, how do you mistake a name like Pyrrha with…anyone's name." He chuckled mirthlessly.

"It's ok. I'm sure Er-"

"DON'T!" Natsu shouted, causing the teens to be taken aback by his scream. Taking his hands off of his eyes, he saw the shocked looks on their faces. No…he didn't want them to…no, don't be afraid. Please…don't. "I'm s-so sorry. I…don't know what came over me. C-Can we just…not talk about this anymore?" The fire mage begged, his lips slightly quivering.

Seeing how strange the boy was acting, the three quickly tried changing the subject. "H-Hey! You guy's wanna hear what kind of weird dream I had the other night! I was just walking around the woods minding my own business when a bunch of Beowolves just up and surrounded me. Like I was some piece of meat! Well…I mean, I guess I am made of meat, but hey, I'm a woman too! So, anyways, they all tried to attack me, but there was no way I was gonna get beaten by a bunch of sexist Beowolves! So, I kicked their butts to the moon…seriously I did! I just swung my leg back and BAM!" She kicked the table, causing Jaune and Pyrrha to jump up from the unexpected kick. "They were outta here! Grand Slam! WHOOO NORA, NORA, NORA! Oh man, and then I woke up! Crazy, right?" She asked, slamming her hands down at the table.

"Ok…I think zany fits you perfect, Nora." Jaune mumbled, scootching slightly away from the girl.

"Thank you!" The orange-haired girl grinned, slurping up more pancakes.

Pyrrha smiled at the boisterous teal-eyed girl, while keeping a close eye on the now gloomy dragon slayer. It was strange. Just a couple moments ago, they boy was just brimming with cheerfulness', but the mere mention of a name caused him to just shut down. Raising her hand to touch him, she saw him shirk back a tad, causing her to halt her action. Seeing that his reclusiveness was affecting the girl, (and that was something the dragon slayer did not want to happen) Natsu inwardly sighed and slowly took her hand within his and massaged it in the hopes of alleviating the guilt she might have been feeling. He didn't want her to be hurt because of him. That was the last thing he wanted. He didn't want to hurt any of his new friends. Friends…God how wonderful it felt to say that again. Unbeknownst to him though, the red-haired girl's face suddenly blew up with a reddish hue at the man's warm hands enveloping hers. Why…why was her heart beating so fast? W-Why…

"I hear wedding bells!" Nora whispered, causing the dragon slayer to look at her peculiarly and green-eyed Huntress to pull back her hand in embarrassment.

"Nora!" Ren scolded her, causing the orange-haired girl to look at him oddly.

"What? Seriously, I'm hearing wedding bells! Dinga ling! Dinga ling! Dinga ling! …Is that just me?" Nora asked, sticking her finger in her ear.

"Yes, Nora, I think it is. You adorable little zany girl." Natsu lightly smiled, glad that the sadness within him was dissipating thanks to his new friends. Perhaps…this was healthy for him. Being surrounded by his new friends…for so long he had been alone. It…it felt so good to have friends again. God, he missed it so much.

Nora waved her hand in front of her face with a smile. "Oh stop it!"

Seeing Pyrrha was still blushing, Natsu just couldn't help but tease her just a smidgeon more. "What's the matter, Pyrrha? Relax! I promise you, you've got the SOFTEST hands any champion in all of Remnant!" He shouted, grinning at the way she shoved her face into her hands. "Ahh…couldn't help it. So, do any of you have any plans for today?"

"Nope. I don't really know the campus that well so…kinda bored." Jaune replied, playing with his food.

"Well, how about we go explorin'? See just what this school has that we don't know about yet. Kinda hopin' it has a pool. Now that would be awesome!" Natsu cheered, thinking about how hilarious it would be to suplex all of his friends in the pool.

"Totally! Imagine all the pretty women we could see! Like Weiss…" The scraggly blonde sighed, imagining the white-haired goddess in a bikini.

The dragon slayer's head then lowered at hearing his friend's image desecrate his happy thought. "Aaaaaaaaand you ruined it."

"Ruin it? Or make it better?" Jaune asked with a grin.

"You ruined it."

"Did I?"

"Yes."

"But did I really?"

"Yes!"

"But if you re-"

"You know I can kick your ass, right?"

"…Sorry."

"It's okay, buddy. Just reminding you."

* * *

After finishing their breakfasts, Team JNPR and Natsu proceeded scouring the campus for any interesting sources of fun. Through their travels, they discovered that there was indeed a pool (to the jubilations of a certain dragon slayer and blonde Huntsman), a meditation room (to Ren's delight), a sparring room (which both Pyrrha and Nora were excited about), and a library (…no one was really excited for that…well maybe Ren, but he kept hat to himself). The four beamed with excitement as they enjoyed the various sights with one another and felt sparks of friendship begin to brighten amongst themselves. All of it…reminded Natsu of familiar times. Not that it was a bad thing, but…it made him a bit melancholic. Meeting all these new people and environments did wonders for his outlook on life, but with each new experience brought whole new messes of trouble.

Exhibit A for example…

Jaune, feeling one of his shoe laces untie suddenly, looked down to see which shoe it was, and as such, wasn't watching where he was going and bumped into someone. "UFF!" He grunted, falling on the floor thanks to his lack of strength. The group, hearing their friend make a pained noise, turned around and saw a much brawnier man than their friend standing tall as their friend fell to the floor. Natsu recognized the man as the same one that was acting tough in front of his peers in the cafeteria. Hopefully, this wouldn't lead to-

"Watch where you're going, punk!" The brawny teen growled, picking up Jaune with one hand.

…trouble.

Jaune lifted up his hands in a plea for the teen to stop his onslaught. "H-Hey, I'm really sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going. P-Please just stop!"

The tanned armor clad teen just grinned at seeing the weaker blonde Huntsman cower before him. Seems like the guy wasn't as dumb as he looked. He recognized a threat and cowered before it…he could have fun with this twerp. Before he could continue however, a strong arm pulled him back, causing the brawny teen to stumble backwards and drop the lanky blonde teen. The armor clad Huntsman raised his head to see a pink-haired boy pick up his friend along with a couple of other people. "Oi Prick, why don't you pick on someone your own size." The salmon-haired boy growled at him. Before the armor clad man could respond, a trio of male teens came running up to him.

"Yo, Cardin! There you are! We've been looking all over for you." One of Cardin's teammates shouted out.

Cardin grinned as he saw his lackeys finally catch up to him. "Bout time you caught up with me Russel. That goes for you two, Sky and Dove!" He pointed at his other two teammates.

Sky bowed. "We're terribly sorry, Cardin! We promise it won't happen again."

"Good." Cardin nodded, then turning his attention to the boy who bumped into him. "Make sure that you watch where you're going, Blondie. Or next time…well there better not be a next time. For your sake." He chuckled to himself as he turned around to walk away.

"Same goes to you, Prick." Natsu retorted, causing Cardin to stop in his tracks. The armor clad Huntsman then turned his head to glare back at the dragon slayer, causing the fire mage to cower in fake fear. "Ooooooo I'm so scared. C'mon tough guy…let's see what you're made of." Natsu grinned, gesturing Cardin over to him.

Cardin merely scoffed. "Not worth the effort. C'mon and talk to me when you dye your head a real color. Otherwise, don't waste my time." Laughing, he surrounded himself with his posse and walked away from the group.

After he was gone, Jaune sighed in relief at avoiding a confrontation with the much larger teen. "Phew…that was a close one."

"Jaune, you should have stood up for yourself. Otherwise, he's just gonna keep picking on you until you break." Natsu lightly scolded the blonde.

The lanky teen rolled his eyes at that. "Yeah, I'm sure me standing up to a guy who's this bigger than me." He raised his hand up above his head. "Is gonna go well. Yeah, next time you see me will be at my funeral…assuming he leaves a body."

Seeing her leader in poor spirits, Pyrrha rubbed Jaune's shoulder in a comforting manner. "Come now, Jaune. Even if he is stronger than you now, that can easily change. It's our first semester. That gives you plenty of time to make some improvements. You obviously have some skill if you made it to Beacon in the first place."

' _Oh if any of you really knew.'_ "Yeah well, I wouldn't count on it." The blonde Huntsman mumbled, kicking a rock.

"Nonsense, Jaune. We're all beginners here, regardless of our skill. So, in a way, we're all on the same level. Give it time and I'm sure you'll exceed your expectations." Ren said, patting the teen on the back.

Jaune looked to him with hope in his eyes. "Y-You really think so?" He asked, hoping that what he said could pos-

"Or, you'll die a horrible death in the middle of battle, dragging us all down with you!" Nora interrupted, hopping in place at that morbid prospect.

"NORA!" Ren shouted at her, while poor Jaune slumped his shoulders in defeat at that thought.

The orange-haired girl put up her hands in alarm at her crush yelling at her. "What? I'm just saying that that's a possibility. It's not like it could happen…probably."

The Chinese teen merely pinched the bridge of his nose as he felt the irritation spread throughout his body.

Before anyone else could comfort the depressed blonde, a loud shout interrupted their conversation. "HEY! There you are! We've been looking all over for you!" Ruby yelled, sprinting towards her own crush, while her teammates followed her with a casual space. The silver-eyed girl collided with the salmon-haired teen's body, causing him to grunt and spin around with the girl's body in tow.

"Hehe hrgh…good to see you too, Ruby." Natsu mumbled, patting the girl on the head affectionately. Seeing the rest of Team RWBY gather around, the dragon slayer asked, "So, how's the room looking now?"

Yang shrugged. "Better I guess. We unpacked all our stuff, but saw that the entire room was crowded by everyone's things. So, Ruby had the idea of bunk beds and presto! We've got bunk beds now!"

Weiss crossed her arms over her chest with a huff at the mention of that. "Hmph! Which I was vehemently against by the way!"

"Hey, we voted." The blonde Huntress responded.

"And-" Weiss began

"-you lost." Blake interrupted, holding back a small smile at the Schnee's obvious irritation at that memory.

"Ugh! It was completely unfair! I was outnumbered!" The heiress threw her hands up in exasperation.

"Yes, because that's how a vote is supposed to end…with someone being outnumbered. You do know that, right?" The amber-eyed girl teased, getting the white-haired girl to growl at being defeated again.

"Haha nice!" Natsu congratulated the snarky response from the black-haired Huntress, causing Blake to give a light bow.

Ruby, seeing her teammates begin to gang up on poor Weiss, stepped in to put a stop to it. "Ok, ok that's enough. Leave Weiss alone now."

Weiss, surprised at seeing Ruby act like a leader and stand up to her, began to thank Ruby for her assistance. "Finally, than-"

"It's not her fault that she lost easily. She's just at fault for being no fun and mean and…know-it-ally and stuff." Ruby continued.

The rest of the group began laughing at Weiss' blushing face, causing the heiress to stomp the ground harshly. "UGH! I hate all of you!" She yelled, turning aback from the group in frustration. "And know-it-ally isn't a word!"

"You would know…" The cloaked girl mumbled, causing more snickers from the group.

"*Gasp* She hates us! Why…how could she do something so EVIL!" Nora screamed out, pushing her hand against her face in shock. She then grabbed Natsu and began shaking him back and forth. "Why! Why! WHY!"

The dragon slayer grabbed the orange-haired girl, stopping her fervent shaking of him. "First…" He then proceeded to intensely shake the girl back and forth as recompense for her actions. After stopping, Nora gave him a loopy grin as she shouted out for him to shake her again. "No. Two, nononono she hates all of YOU. She doesn't hate ME. Ms. Schnee adores me. Loves me. Can't live without-she's grabbing her weapon, isn't she?" He asked the group, causing them to nod. "Welp! Gotta run!" The fire mage grinned, sprinting away from the group as Weiss gave chase with Myrtlemaster in hand.

"I'm gonna kill you!" The heiress snarled as she chased the laughing dragon slayer, blushing heavily.

"Ummm…will he be ok?" Pyrrha asked Yang.

"Maybe or maybe not. Even if he isn't, Natsu has always been a fast healer." The blonde Huntress shrugged, patting her stomach. "Well, I'm gonna get something to eat. Anyone wanna join?" She asked the group, causing her team to nod in approval while Nora followed with a skip in her step.

"Didn't we just eat?" Jaune asked.

"Just follow her…" Ren mumbled, already giving into his friend's zaniness.

Remembering something about Natsu's fast healing, a spark of remembrance shot through Ruby's mind. "OOOOOO! You'll never guess what happened the day of the dust shop robbery. I can't believe I forgot to tell you, but Natsu has super powers!"

"Super powers?" The blonde Huntsman questioned the cloaked girl.

Ruby nodded. "Yeah! When Torchwick shot at me-"

Yang suddenly stopped and grabbed the petite girl. "HE SHOT AT YOU! Are you okay! Did he hurt you!? I swear if he did!"

"Stop, Yang! I'm fine! That's what I was getting at. When he shot at me, Natsu took the hit and he was bleeding! But after I saw him on the rooftop, he was completely fine! Weird, right?!" The silver-eyed girl said to the group.

"It could be his Semblance?" Jaune replied to the girl.

Blake shook her head. "But he uses fire. So, wouldn't that be his Semblance?"

"He also used what looked like lightning on the Nevermore we were fighting. Healing, fire, lightning…three Semblances? That isn't possible." Pyrrha stroked her chin as she began questioning just how one teenager could possess all that power.

"How can…how can one man wield not just fire, but lightning as well, while simultaneously possess a healing factor to boot?" Ren asked, intrigued with the boy's past and how he could possibly contain all those attributes.

Nora scratched her head. "Science experiment gone wrong? *GASP* What if he is that! And…and he gets his power by killing other Huntsman for their Semblance! Oh my gosh! That's the perfect horror movie! And…AND IT'S HALLOWEEN TOO!" She screamed out, holding her head in fear.

"Nora…Halloween was two weeks ago." Ren deadpanned.

Nora gasped at that. "You mean I missed out on getting free candy. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! …my stomach is sad." She collapsed in despair.

"…Is she gonna be ok?" Blake asked the Chinese teen.

"Just give her a minute." He responded, causing the orange-haired girl to smile and hop back to her feet.

"Ah well! There's next year! …What were we talking about again?" She asked the group, causing them to look at one another with confused looks on their faces.

"Natsu, Nora. We were talking about Natsu." Pyrrha smiled awkwardly at the hammer-wielding teen.

"OOOOOO right! Yeah…he's weird. I LIKE HIM!" Nora grinned with a snort.

Yang then turned to Ruby. "Well, did you ever ask him how he could do all that?"

Ruby looked side to side. She didn't…oh no! Now she was gonna look stupid in front of everyone. _'QUICK! Think of something!'_ "Um…did YOU ever ask him about any of that…?" She pointed at her older sister with her eyes widened.

"…Touche." Yang nodded, causing her younger sister to sigh in her mind.

"Should we ask him about this?" Jaune asked the group.

Pyrrha shook her head at that. "Perhaps we should respect his privacy." Remembering the odd outburst of his concerning the name Erza perhaps it was wise to stray away from grilling the boy on his past.

Nora waved the scarlet-haired warrior off. "Pshh! Privacy schmivacy! Let's just tie him up and interrogate him until he gives us what we want!" She grinned with her eye twitching.

Everyone looked at the girl with bewildered expressions.

"…How about…we…we don't do that and just ask him. Is…is that okay, Nora?" Blake asked, moving slightly aback from the girl lest she take the news the wrong way.

Staring at the amber-eyed girl, Nora suddenly changed her tune and shrugged. "Sure! Sounds good!"

The group looked at each other with various different expressions on their face. Some were adamant on getting to the bottom of Natsu's odd powers, while others were not as eager to grilling the young man. Surely he wouldn't take being questioned about his past as nicely seeing as how he acted rather heatedly back in the cafeteria. Nonetheless, the rest who were curious as to the boy's powers were stubborn and made it clear that they wanted to know about just how the boy did what he did. Only time would tell just how open the boy would really be…

"AHHHHHHH! IF YOU REALLY LOVE ME WEISS- NO, NOT THE GLYPHS! NOT THE-UGH!" The mysterious boy yelled out as the heiress enacted her revenge.

 **AAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNDDDDDDD THAT'S A WRAP! Here we are! Chapter 7 for your hungry souls! Now I've gotta start working on Demon of the Seas because people have been asking me to update that. I also hope you all like how I'm taking this story right now too. As you can see, I've introduced Cardin now and BOY does he not like Jaune. Then again, we all already knew that, but AHA! Jaune now has Natsu on his side so Cardin won't find it very…smart to be picking on one of his friends. But not just that, but now everyone is curious as to how Natsu has all of these powers! *GASP* Although, once again, we already know about his fire and lightning powers…BUT NOT HIS HEALING POWERS! MUHAHAHAHAHA! …Then again, I'm sure you can all guess why he has them. Seriously though, I'm not gonna really dive into Natsu's back story until a certain character makes their appearance (can you guess who? ;) ) Trust me, they have a major connection to Natsu in my story and I honestly can't wait till I get to that part of that story. I also want to thank once again all the people who have been supporting this story, and to an extent me as well. It means the world to me that you all enjoy this story and it keeps me motivated to keep coming back!**

 **Anywhoo, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and if you did, then please leave a favorite, follow, and REVIEW!**


	8. Chapter 8

**WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELL SHIT! It's been a while, hasn't it?! Oh man, I am just so sorry for the wait. Seriously, I am. I've just been busy with a crap ton of other stuff that I just completely lost track of where all the time was going. BUT! I'm happy to see so many people sending favorites and follows towards my story! So thanks a lot for that, everyone. Truly that means a lot to me. Honestly, it does. I never believed that any of my crossovers could get so popular, but here I stand with this particular crossover over 300 follows with only 7 chapters! AMAZING! Again, thank you so much, and stay tuned for another endorsement towards my stories, including a new one I recently wrote…**

 **What?**

…

 **OK! I said I was sorry about the long wait! Quit harassin' me!**

…

 **Ok, I'll stop being weird now…**

… **No I won't.**

 **Disclaimer: In the first chapter.**

 _ **Outside the Beacon Cafeteria**_

The sun was slowly beginning to set as the students made their trek towards the cafeteria to confront the salmon-haired mysterious teen. Handfuls of footsteps quickly stomped on the concrete walkway that led towards the Huntsman school's lunch area. However, food wasn't on the mind of either of these children as they neared towards the cafeteria. No. Instead, numerous thoughts concerning the salmon-haired dragon slayer swam through the group of teenager's brains. Some being ones of curiosity; how could the boy do the things he did? Where had he learned such techniques? Was he born with them, or were they taught to him? And how did he get such toned abs with all the food he ate? So many important questions… Others, however, fell more into the realm of a sense of fear. Most were present when the boy lost his temper and lashed out rather harshly when it came to people questioning his past. So a repeat of those turn of events was not something most of them were yearning for. Unfortunately for them…

"Okay, I'm guessin' he got all his powers from murdering a bunch of Huntsman/Huntresses! Or or, he got them a bunch of Dust! OOOOOOOOOOO or, he was experimented on as a child, and from those experiments, he got a buttload of superpowers!" Nora thought out loud to herself, rubbing her chin as the salmon-haired boy stayed prevalent inside her mind as she walked with the group towards the cafeteria.

"Nora!" Ren shouted to her, causing her to throw her arms up in surprise.

"What? Are most of those too cliché?" The orange-haired Huntress replied, getting a nod of disapproval from her close friend/not boyfriend/soon-to-be boyfriend.

Ren sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose in agonizing annoyance. "No, Nora, I didn't shout at you because most of those were cliché." _'Although most of them are.'_ "I yelled at you because I don't want you spouting stuff out like that when we get into the cafeteria. However Natsu gained his abilities is his own business, and nobody else's. So I want you to promise me you won't say anything like that to him, ok?" He asked his close friend/annoying pain in his backside.

"But-"

"Nora…"

Nora sighed as she stared into her crush's eyes and could see that he wouldn't budge on the issue. He was always such a buzzkill when he got that look in his eyes. "Fine!" She pouted, stomping loudly as they made their way towards the cafeteria.

Ren nodded, seeing his friend agree with him. Although, he was ashamed to admit that a small part of him wanted his over eager friend to get the better of him in this argument. There was just so much mystery surrounding the salmon-haired boy and his strange powers that a part of him wanted to unravel. Still though, the stoic teen kept his composure and walked calmly along with his pouting pain in the backside beside him.

Most of the others just stared at the two with ranging looks from confusion to straight indifference. Finally, the group had reached the cafeteria after what felt like nearly a year and looked to see, strangely enough, Natsu once again eating heavily, with numerous bruises covering his body, next to a still embarrassed Weiss who had her eyes closed and arms crossed while, also strangely enough, sitting next to her apparent archenemy/possible romance option. Instantly, the boy's head rose as he sniffed the air and waved them over to the two's table. As the group began to walk over, they saw the fire mage offer up a piece of his own biscuit from the mountain of food covering his tray to the frowning ice queen and watched her move her head away from the piece, refusing it. However, as the group reached the table and took their respective seats (Yang beating out Ruby to take the other seat next to Natsu, which caused her to pinch her older sister's side in irritation, and took the seat next to Weiss/her soon-to-be bestie, Blake took the spot next to Yang, and the JNPR crew to take the other side of the table) a sudden growl emanated from a mysterious point of origin. Simultaneously, the entire cast pinpointed the origin and lowered their eyes to Weiss' apparent empty stomach.

Natsu grinned devilishly, offering up the piece of biscuit back up to the Schnee-devil, "So-"

"Shut up!" Weiss growled towards the grinning dragon slayer, quickly taking the piece of food and softly began nibbling on it.

The dragon slayer chuckled to himself seeing the oddly cute scene and turned to his friends. "Heya guys! It's been so long since we've been seen each other, huh?"

"But…we just saw you not even ten minutes ago." Blake raised her eyebrow at the odd comment.

Natsu shrugged nonchalantly, "Yeah, but it feels longer, y'know? Kinda feels like it's been almost a year…"

Ruby teetered her head side to side as she thought to herself. "Yeah…kinda does, huh?"

Suddenly, a pair of overexcited hands slammed down onto the table, causing several of the students to jump up in surprise. They suddenly turned to see a frowning Nora staring at the grinning salmon-haired Huntsman. "Enough stallin', you damn…uh…Staller! Tell us your secrets!"

"Nora! What did I just say?!" Ren shouted to her, outraged, while at the same time, unsurprised to see his friend utterly ignoring his words to her not even ten minutes ago.

"…I have a secret?" Natsu asked, his eyebrow raised. He snickered to himself, "Why didn't anyone tell me?"

Nora quickly slammed her palms back down on the table, causing several of the students to jump up again. "No more jokes, you…uh…" The hammer wielding Huntress suddenly stopped her sudden interrogation and began scratching her head as she began mumbling to herself.

"What's happening?" Pyrrha whispered to Ren in the hopes of gaining some insight into their very strange comrade.

Ren merely sighed. "Do you want the long version or the short version?"

"The short version pleeeeeeeeeease! I've been holding it in since we left the cafeteria!" Jaune whined, tapping his feet rapidly as he fought to hold in the impending urine accident if he so much as blinked wrong. Unbeknownst to the boy however, a certain mischievous dragon slayer immediately perked up at hearing the blonde teen's problem and quickly began forming devious little plan inside of his mind.

"…Why don't you just go now, idiot?" Weiss asked, giving him a 'what the hell is wrong with you' face.

"Hey." Natsu growled, looking at the white-haired girl through his peripheral vision. Hearing the seriousness in his voice, the Schnee apologized to the dorky Huntsman, getting a smile from the dragon slayer. "Go on, Ren." He motioned towards the Chinese teen.

"The mercifully short version: She's thinking of a word to continue her interrogation." He said, shaking his head.

"Haha what? Seriously?" Ruby laughed. "Yo, Nora! Hello!" The giddy girl yipped towards the head-scratching Nora, whom was still frozen and searching her mind for the right word to continue.

"Is there any logistical reason as to why she does this? I don't even understand why she's yelling at this stupid, dumb, idiot, dolt." Weiss replied, while pointing towards the salmon-haired boy.

"You know, it's stuff like that that allows him to keep teasing you." Blake said, a small smile twitching at seeing the frustrated blushing face on the Schnee's face.

"Shut up! Grrrrrr! I keep telling everyone that I do-"

"Quiet, my future wife/love slave/just kidding because I respect all women! What the heck is going on here?" Natsu covered the Glyph-using Huntress' mouth and asked the group, getting several of the teens to awkwardly whistle as they looked as far away as from the dragon slayer as they could. "Yang?" The dragon slayer whispered, giving the blonde a raised eyebrow.

"Jokester?" Yang said with a shrug, allowing Nora to suddenly awaken from her odd frozen state.

"YEAH! Jokester! I knew there was a word for a person who made jokes a lot! Alright now-…why is everyone looking at me weirdly?" Nora asked, getting deadpan looks from everyone at the table.

"Nora, seeing as how everyone suddenly lost their freaking voice and won't answer my simple question, I ask you, you crazy loon, what the hell is going on here?!" The fire wizard yelled at the loon, suddenly getting a pointed finger thrust in front of his face.

"You're not normal!" The teal eyed girl shouted.

"Well, glad to see you've managed to debunk that mystery. What gave it away? My hair, my sense of humor, my powers-"

"Powers!"

"Powers."

"You freaking heal!"

"Your abilities."

"Your powers are strange."

"I mean, you're hair-I mean, powers!"

Natsu just stared blankly forward for a while. "Uh huh…I see." The boy stayed silent as the rest of the teens just stared at him awkwardly and waited for him to say anything.

"Uh…Natsu?" Pyrrha called to the silent, blankly staring teen.

"…I guess I can't hide it anymore, can I?" Natsu whispered to himself, his hair covering his eyes, getting the teen's attention.

"W-What?" Several of the Huntsman's/Huntresses' uttered out.

The dragon slayer nodded. "Yeah…you guys are smart. I never thought my secret would be found out by a bunch of snot nose brats like yourself. Yes…I have a secret." He whispered, a growl emanating from the recesses of his throat. The boy folded his hands in front of his face as he closed his eyes.

"N-Natsu…you're scaring me." Ruby whimpered, grabbing ahold of her older sister's arm in fear.

"Yeah…c'mon, Natsu, q-quit fooling around." Jaune chuckled, getting Natsu to open one eye that glared straight through him, a glare that a predator gave to its prey before lunging for the kill. _'Okay…nightmares…I'm gonna have soooooooooooo many nightmares.'_ The frightened teenager whimpered, his hold on his bladder slowly beginning to wane from the salmon-haired teen's monster-like glare.

"I have a secret." Natsu whispered, staring at each of the shaking teens as his glare moved from one teen to the next, getting a gleeful amount from the fear on their faces. "Do you want to know my secret? For you see, if my secret were to be uttered, a thousand curses would befall not only you, but everyone in this school. Curses that will haunt you forever…will stain your very soul and keep you from everything you've ever wanted! Is this what you peasants want?!"

"No-" Jaune began before Nora quickly interrupted.

"YESS!"

A chuckle echoed throughout the cafeteria from the salmon-haired teen, quickly growing into a malevolent evil laugh of sorts. A laugh that quickly caused one of the teens to lose control of their body and well…let's just say that mistakes were made and Jaune would never wear this set of pants again. "HAHAHHAHAHAHAHA! You fools! Now you've done it! Now I'll tell you my secret! A secret, that when uttered, will make you pee your pants, just like Jaune has!"

"EWWW! Are you serious!" The Schnee heiress cried out, scooting as far away from the blonde Huntsman as possible.

"WHAT?! N-No, i-it's my juice! Yeah, my juice! I-I didn't-w-what?! P-P-Pee my pants?! What no way! I'd never do that! I haven't done that since prescho-NEVER! I've never done that! NOPE! Nu-uh!" Jaune exclaimed, making various hand motions that signaled that he did NOT pee his pants…even though everyone knew he did. "Never…now, if you excuse me…I have to go…change my clothes because…reasons." He said, quickly running away from the group while covering the very comically large stain on his jeans with a tray he stole from another group's table.

A laugh then caught the group's ears as they slowly turned to see Natsu covering his mouth, trying with all his might to contain his laughs from the poor lanky Huntsman's motions as he tried desperately to exit the cafeteria before anyone else noticed his "accident." Seeing that everyone was looking at him, he quickly cleared his throat. "S-So be it! You've all b-be-haha-en warned! N-haha-Now I-I…I-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Did you see his face?! 'I-It's my juice!' HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA! Oh my gosh! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The dragon slayer bellowed with laughter, falling out of his seat and rolled to the ground with his excessive fits of merriment from his charade.

Yang was the first to connect the dots and quickly began joining the boy in laughter. "Oh my gosh! You're such a dick! Hahahahaha!"

The rest of the other's just looked at the two with strange looks before Nora suddenly burst out in laughter. "HAHAHAHAHA! Jaune peed his…HAHAHAHAHA! B-Because Natsu-HAHAHHAHAHA!"

Blake merely stared at the three's strange behavior before her eyes widened and a quiet snicker came out from her mouth. "Wow…I can't believe you did that."

"WHAT! What the heck is so funny! I mean, sure Jaune peed his…OH! Hahahahahaha! …I don't get it." Ruby muttered, scratching her head in confusion.

Yang, wiping the tears from her eyes, shook her head and patted her younger sister's head as she explained, "Ruby, Ruby, Ruby. Oh what am I going to do with you, my sweet innocent younger sister. What does Natsu love doing more than fighting?"

The scythe-wielding girl scrunched up her face as she began thinking. "Hmm…masturbat-"

"NOOOOOOO! Not that! No!" Natsu shouted, leaping upwards and covered the young girl's mouth. A growl, a real one that promised a rampage of revenge if that particular event got out, emanated from the boy's throat as she glared into the girl's face. "You promised you'd never speak of that again! I did it once and never again!" The dragon slayer growled, causing the young teen to chuckle awkwardly and mutter an apology through her muffled mouth.

The busty blonde, however, heard her younger sister before the embarrassed dragon slayer could stop her and gave the boy a cheeky smile. "Really?"

"Shut up! Everyone does it at least once!" The fire mage cried out, getting most of the teens to snicker at the boy's embarrassed tone of voice.

Weiss, however, took offense to that last remark. "What?! That is literally the most stupid thing I've ever heard, besides the time Ruby said that stupid show Game of Thrones could have really happened in the past! I've never-"

"Bullshit!" Yang interrupted her.

"I haven't!" The Schnee growled towards the busty teen, pushing her face up against the blonde's, causing her less than ample bosom to crash up against Yang's bustier bosom (which only made her angrier!).

' _*sigh* I probably should be bewildered and shocked by what I'm witnessing before me…then I realize who made me this immune to crazy….'_ Ren thought to himself, looking towards the crazily cheering Nora. _'It's funny too…he's somehow managed to deflect all the caution and wariness that most of us felt as we began our trek into the cafeteria. At first all they had wanted to do was question him about his past and how he had come to gain all of his powers…and now somehow we landed on the subject of touching one's self. I don't know if I should be shocked or afraid of this boy's power of manipulation.'_ "ALRIGHT!" The dual gun wielding teen yelled, causing the rest of the teen's to stop their bickering and gained their attention. His eyes then focused on the dragon slayer. "Natsu, I don't know how you did it, but you somehow managed to deflect any and all questions we all initially had for you before we all came to talk to you. Whether that was your intention or not matters not, what does is this. We don't know you. What I mean by that is this, you have strange abilities, as do we all, but yet you contain not just one Semblance, but several; the ability to wield fire and electricity, while also somehow retaining a healing factor? Impossible. I've never heard or seen a Huntsman or a Huntress who was capable of this. If I have, I've scoffed at that impossible scenario. Yet, here I stand, in the presence of a boy, near my own age, who meets those criteria. I'm…I'm baffled to say the least and I want to know more..." His eyes stayed focused on the dragon slayer, noting the grin on the salmon-haired boy slowly wane, before his face rectified it and grew back to its normal length, as if it was programmed to look humorous at all times. Most of the others looked to Ren only to trail back to Natsu, who gave them a shrug.

"Fine, I'll tell ya. I come from a land down under, where women grow and men plunder." Natsu laughed, causing most of the teens to sigh at another of the boy's jokes.

"C'mon, Natsu! Just tell us! We're you're friends, right!" Ruby pouted at the boy, causing him to roll his eyes. "Don't roll your eyes! I thought you cared all about friendship and all that! You've always lectured Yang and I about how you should always be honest and loyal towards your friends. So why won't you be honest now!"

The dragon slayer's smile then began to fall at the young girl's words. She was right…but…NO! He couldn't…how could they…they'd never believe him. He didn't want them to believe him…they'd never look at him the same way. Here he was…he was so close…SO DAMN CLOSE! Finally he'd be able to throw away his loneliness and surround himself with friends…people he could trust. Who he'd give his life for! Just like…just like before. His eyes began to grow serious and hardened as his thoughts moved to darker places, getting most of the teen's attention. Pyrrha was the first to speak up for him, "Wait, Ruby. P-Perhaps we should let Natsu's past…well, stay the past. After all some of us just met him and…well, we have no right to ask him if he doesn't wish to speak of it." A small sigh of content came out through Natsu's mouth after hearing those words. At least one of them was more understanding than Ruby. Although, he couldn't blame his young friend. How could he? His powers were far different than the people in this place, so how could he lay any blame on people who were confused and wary? Especially if some were his close friends, and hopefully soon to be close friends. Still, this was something he couldn't talk about with anyone. The pain…the agonizing torture of having to suffer his special fate bestowed upon him through trifecta of his brother's supposed love for him, a true monster's hatred for humanity, and his own arrogance in his beliefs. He couldn't…because having to relive his memories even through words…

…he'd rather die.

"Please…" He whispered, getting the teens' attention. "…Leave it alone. I know…I know some of you are confused and probably suspicious. But…just trust me. My powers aren't dangerous to you, and they never will be. I use them just like any one of you; to protect and defend. I…I won't ever use those abilities for anyone else…" He stopped, his voice dying in his throat. "I…I-I…" A black-haired girl appeared in his head. "I-I…" _'No…she's gone…let her rest...'_ Several other faces appeared inside his head; a blonde-haired woman smiling kindly, a black-haired man grinning cockily, a petite blue-haired girl waving, a white-haired cat fighting back a smirk as a blue-haired cat offered up several fish to her, and a beautiful scarlet-haired angel wielding a sword in her hand…a fighter…to the bitter end. _'…Let them all rest…_ Natsu stopped himself, clearing his throat loudly. "I'll use it to protect…I promise. Just please…don't ask me how…don't ask me where…never. Don't. Just don't and I promise you I'll be loyal to you all forever. No matter what. Just…p-please." The boy begged, bowing his head towards the others, desperately trying to fight the tears welling up in eyes.

To say they were all shocked was an understatement, Ruby and Yang in particular. They had known the boy longer than anyone here and not once did he show this particular shade of anguish. Natsu was always…just Natsu. The dumb guy who said stupid stuff to get a rise or a laugh out of someone either for his own benefit, or more frequently, to get a smile out of that someone. But this? This was someone else. It had to be. For the others, sure they hadn't known the strange salmon-haired teen for long, but they at least thought they had a grasp on the boy's personality; a brash, silly, and hard-headed guy with a sarcastic wit and a taste for recklessness. Yet, here they all sat together with him and saw him beg…beg to stop their curiosity from digging any deeper into his history. What they thought was initially harmless seemed to only throw more pain onto the boy. Hearing the cracks in his voice, whether deliberate or not, sent a stabbing pain in each of their stomachs, allowing guilt to burrow inside their souls and fill them full of regret for their action.

Ruby, being the most emotional attuned in the group, was the first to respond to Natsu's plea. "N-Natsu…" She croaked out, agonizing over the dragon slayer's grief, and reached out to put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "…N-No more, we promise. We won't…we won't ask you anymore. R-Right, guys?" The silver-eyed girl asked, begging through her facial expression for them to agree with her decision. What came next were nods and vocalizations of agreement from the group, along with their apologies to the fire mage. They had never wanted to cause any amount of heartache or torture to Natsu. All they had wished to get to the bottom of what they deemed to be mysterious and puzzling about what the boy could do. However, several of the group of teenagers found it very easy to sympathize with the boy's plight. Some of them had parts of their pasts that they dearly wished to forget…to never remember or dig up, lest the baggage and sins that came with those memories taint their supposed pure souls.

' _Goddamn it…I hate this. Feeling this weak. Even with all my power, I'm still rendered fragile from any mention of my past.'_ Natsu rose his head after hearing the teen's apologies, seeing the sorrow in each of their eyes. Strangely enough, he saw shades of what seemed like even more guilt inside Blake's and Ren's and Yang's and even…Nora? Though, he quickly discarded the thought, chalking it up to him projecting onto his friends. "Thank you." He muttered, boiling over his weakness to hold back the pain. "I'm sorry-"

"Don't apologize." Blake quickly cut him off, getting the group's attention, causing the girl to slightly blush from the attention. "D-Don't be mistaken. I-I could care less about whatever is bothering you." She said, crossing her arms and made sure to avoid any eye contact, lest her eyes give her away. "…It's just….I agree. The past…should stay just that. The past, nothing more." To say everyone was shocked twice now was another understatement. The gothic teen was straight up winner for being the person to talk the least amongst everyone inside the group; only usually speaking when spoken too or to give a sarcastic retort (mostly to a certain Schnee heiress). But now, here she was, partially defending Natsu's agonized response to the questions of his past, and sticking up for him. It was…honestly a little heartwarming, especially in the dragon slayer's eyes. The two had barely shared any words with one another, yet, the amber-eyed teen seemed sympathetic to his words, almost as if…she shared a similar kind of torment?

' _No, that couldn't…could it? And if that was true, then could Ren…Nora…even Yang?'_

Natsu stopped the thought before it could stray any further. It all must've just been his imagination. "…Thanks. All of you." He muttered, a small smile peeking through the edges of his mouth. Several of the teens blew out a sigh of relief seeing as how most of them were in fear the boy would hold a serious grudge over them for what they had almost made him share. Still though, there was so much secrecy revolving around the boy and what he could do. They were ashamed to admit that there was still a sense of wariness that hovered over their feelings for the salmon-haired Huntsman, but none held their own grudge against him. Just like them, he was entitled to hold secrets close to his heart, regardless of how they all felt about the situation. Besides, Natsu had promised to use his powers to protect, and right now, that was perfectly acceptable in the teen's eyes. Wariness aside, the boy was one of their comrades; someone who would be at their side in battle, through thick and thin, and to be perfectly honest, they'd rather have someone with incredible powers on their side against the Grimm than have him as their enemy. The dragon slayer could see the group of teens begin to relax after his words, along with the slight amount of woe at failing to decipher just how he did what he did. But he could live with that. It saddened him to keep his comrades in the dark, but he had to. If they knew what had happened to him…how he got to where he was today, they'd never look at him the same. He'd be alone again…and feeling alone was the worst feeling in existence. Still, the salmon-haired mage wanted to at least somewhat rectify some of the hurt feelings that his friends may have been feeling. "Believe me, it's not that I don't trust you. Quite the opposite really. I like you guys…a lot surprisingly."

Yang snorted at that. "Gee thanks." Hearing the girl's words caused the fire-wielding Huntsman to smile, which caused the blonde-haired Huntress to feel slight delight at seeing her friend/crush/future hubbie slowly revert back to his jubilant natural self.

Natsu continued his thought, "Seriously, I like you. I want us all to be friends. I want us all to be able to do stupid shit, say stupid shit, and not feel judged about it, you know? I don't know about you guys…but I want that. _Need_ that." His face then began to tighten. "But there are just things…that I have to keep beside me, only with _me_. And it's not a matter of trust. It's just something that I…" The boy stopped, his eyes falling downwards to stare at the table. "It's something that I need to atone for. And maybe…just maybe, through this school, I can do it. I don't…I don't know if any of you have ever felt like this, but if you have, then you know why I just can't. And if you never have, then I pray you never will. But like I said, regardless, I will fight…for all of you. You have my word." A stare of determination formed through the dragon slayer's words, strangely filling the group of Huntsman/Huntresses with a sense of security. Smiles began to form across the teens' faces at seeing the boy begin to come back to his usual self and-

" _*sniff* *sniff*_ " Weiss sniffled, taking out a handkerchief from…one of her skirt pockets?

"Weiss, are you…crying?" Pyrrha asked, concerned for the white-haired heiress.

"N-No, I'm not crying from that dolt's speech." She said, her eyes runny and red as she blew her nose into her handkerchief loudly. "N-Not even close." Suddenly, seeing the heiress, who always prided herself in being rather haughty and snooty, in a particularly embarrassing form immediately broke any outlying tension that hovered over the group, and was quickly replaced with loud bouts of vivacious laughter echoing the practically empty cafeteria. Hearing her annoying comrade's amusement at her humiliating appearance caused her to blush and cover her face by pushing her face onto the table and covering it with her arms.

"Hahaha-oh my gosh-hahaha oh I really needed that!" Natsu bellowed, wiping his own tears from his eyes. As he did, his smile grew as he saw his new, as well as old, friends joining him in his jubilance. Seeing all it around him filled him with a rather melancholic feeling, but quickly pushed it away before it took him over once more. With a smile as warm as the sun, the fire wizard patted the blushing Schnee atop her white-haired head. "Who'd a thunk ol' grumpy heiress girl would've been the one to erase all the rotten tension covering us, huh?"

Ruby snickered at his comment. "Tell me about it. Usually she's the one to cause it."

Weiss was quick to take offense, as always. "Oh shut up! It's not my fault I'm surrounded by knuckle-draggers like you!" She argued back, getting Ruby to push up against her forehead to forehead.

"Oh yeah! Well you're a…a…"

"Oh what? A spoon, Ruby?"

"*Gasp* How's you know I was gonna say that?!"

"Ugh, you're such an idiot!"

Everyone took a collective sigh as they watched the two bicker back and forth, certainly lacking any sense of sexual tension, unlike a certain dragon slayer and haughty heiress. The crew then took a look outside the windows to see the sun steadily lowering, signaling that daylight was ending and soon darkness would befall soon enough. Seeing that, the group quickly pulled the bickering teenagers aside and dragged them each towards their respective room; Yang in charge of Ruby, and Blake in charge of Weiss (to each's dismay). As everyone began to exit the cafeteria, Natsu was strangely pulled aside by someone he never thought to expect. "Nora? What the heck was that for?" He asked, surprised to see an expression of what seemed like guilt across her face. His eyes then caught sight of Ren slightly behind her with his arms crossed with his own guilty expression.

Ren was the first to speak. "I…well we just wanted to both apologize to you, Natsu. I knew I shouldn't have budged on the issue of your past…but I let my curiosity gain the better of me, and through it, hurt you. Please accept my apologies." He apologized, bowing towards the surprised dragon slayer.

Nora quickly followed suit. "Y-Yeah! Listen, I know I fool around a lot, but making people sad is definitely NOT something I wanna do, ya know? I've got enough bad karma on my plate, so you better accept my apology, ok?" She said, pointing with a smile on her face.

"Nora!" The Chinese teen growled, angry at Nora letting her manic tendencies to ruin what was supposed to be a heartfelt apology.

"What?" The teal-eyed girl shrugged, surprised to see her friend so angry with her. She meant every word of her apology after all!

Fortunately, those two just so happened to be dealing with a rather unusual boy. "Wow, you two really are polar opposites, huh?" Natsu grinned, seeing the two quickly back off the other at hearing the boy speak. "It's alright. Really it is. Like I said before, I know why you all got all curious and stuff. It'd be hard not too considering how much I can do and I should've readied myself for this…but there are just some stuff you can't ever be ready for, you know?" The salmon-haired boy said with a somber grin and a shrug.

Unbeknownst to the boy however, the two did know what it was like to suffer from a horrifying past. A past that even to this day still haunted them, one event in particular. An event that continued to drive them to this day; to be the best Huntsman/Huntresses their abilities could take them to. _'To avenge the fallen…'_ A dark thought entered into the Chinese teen's mind as he thanked Natsu for accepting their apologies. Afterwards the three continued their trek towards their various bedrooms with heavy hearts and clouded minds.

* * *

As the four beautiful Huntresses along with their handsome Huntsman entered their room, a yawn escaped their mouths, realizing that the day had nearly reached the end and all that was left to do was to close their eyes and rest for the next day. Unfortunately, for a certain dragon slayer, he knew his body would refuse to sleep tonight. The memories inside his head, memories that he wished desperately he could forget all together, would haunt his dreams tonight if he so much as gave away slightly into Morpheus' grasp. Quickly, the salmon-haired Huntsman began to depart from his shared room, but before he could, a voice stopped his trek.

"And where do you think you're going?" Weiss asked with a suspicious look, already changed into her satin bluish-white pajamas.

"Yeah, it's bedtime, Natsu. Aren't you tired?" Ruby was quick to hop onto Weiss' question, even though the scythe-wielding girl's question was out of more concern as opposed to the heiress' being more suspicious.

A sigh escaped the fire mage's mouth as his grip on the doorknob tightened, nearly breaking it off the door. "I am…and I'm not. I just…I just want to be alone for a while, ok?" His response was curt and quiet, which surprised both Ruby and Yang. Usually, the boy would give a sarcastic or witty response whenever the two would ask him where he would go in the night back when they all hung out in Patch. _"A strip club."_ He would say. Or, _"My other girlfriend's house."_ Or even, _"I'm starring in the next Star Wars movie. Playin' one of the new Jedi, and if you play your cards right, then I may let you play with my lightsaber."_ That one definitely made the two sister's blush, even if the boy was clueless to the euphemism he had given those hormonal teenagers that day. But this time there was no sarcasm, no wink, no joking smile. All there was just…a boy. A tired and melancholy boy. After he looked towards the girls, Natsu then departed from the room, leaving a room full of girls filled with diverse emotions concerning the dragon slayer and his behavior.

"Wow…" Yang muttered to herself, utterly shocked to see her friend still hung up on what was said during dinner time.

"I know…usually he'd be right back to his normal self, but…" The short black-haired girl stopped herself, lowering her head as she laid on her bed, concerned for her friend.

"So he's never been like this ever?" Weiss asked, torn between her somewhat concern for the boy and the slight suspicion she held.

The two sisters looked at one another and tried to piece just when they might have seen the boy resemble this type of behavior, but couldn't find a single piece of evidence. Natsu was always cheery and jubilant. Always ready to help at the first mention of any trouble without any concern for his own wellbeing, but they had never seen anything like this sort of behavior from him. A troubling thought crossed their minds as they thought to themselves that perhaps that beyond all the jokes and smiles there laid a shadowy persona inside the fire-breathing boy. Something that slowly ate away at the teen and any semblance of happiness that sprung forth from him, perhaps because of something that happened in the boy's past. A small sense of fear spread through the two as they could only imagine what could have happened to their friend that turned his normal personality upside down. "No…not once has he ever shown anything like this to us." Ruby mumbled, her fear slowly eating away at her own jubilant persona.

Surprisingly though, both Yang and Ruby's fears were waylaid from the person they least expected it too once again. "He'll be fine." Blake said, flipping through another of her many novels she had brought along to the school in the hopes of preventing any conversation from being brought her way. Unfortunately for her, she just had to be roomed with two socialites, an introverted small girl, and a snobby heiress. To say she was annoyed was an understatement. Yet still, inside her beat a kind heart, something she was desperate to hide from anybody on account of herself being an introvert. All she wanted to do was to hide herself away and bury herself in her novels. Stories that could transport her away from the hell that was this world full of bigots and xenophobes that despised anything that had any type of animal appendages on their body. Alas, time and time again it was shown to the secret Faunus that something like that was impossible, and the real world would always find a way to drag her back into this hell. And here she was now, being dragged once again from another one of her novels just so she could placate two sniveling girls on behalf of the boy's apparent depression. But, like it was said before, inside her beat a kind heart, and even though it was buried underneath cynicism and aloofness, the Faunus could at the very least sympathize with whatever was bugging the strange salmon-haired teen. Blake looked up from her book to see the three other girls in the room staring at her and sighed to herself as she put the book down on the stand next to her bunk bed. "Look, all the guy wants is peace and quiet, ok? Is that so bad? Everyone needs that once in a while, and I'm sure you've all been like that once before, so why is it any different for him?" She asked the girls in front of her, glad to see that they seemed to be taking what she said now to heart. "Listen, I can see that you care for the guy-"

Weiss was quick to waylay that sentence before it was finished. "But I don-"

But Blake was two steps ahead of her. "Don't care? Yeah, sure. And the reason you're biting your nails now is because Daddy didn't send over your favorite manicurist with you."

A blush spread across the pale face of the Schnee heiress as she grit her teeth in frustration. "W-Well he didn't!" She yelled, getting the three other women to roll their eyes at the white-haired girl's retort.

"Whatever. You want to keep playing the snobby Ice Queen, go ahead. Be my guest." The amber-eyed girl replied with an uncaring shrug. "As for the fire-breather, leave him alone for the night. Let him sort out whatever is bugging him, and if he's still the same tomorrow, then it's a problem. But it's only _your_ problem if he lets it be. He's obviously the kind of guy that wears his heart on his sleeve, and if he's holding something inside him that he's never told you, then obviously he feels it's something that he needs to deal with on his own. And if he feels that way, then there is nothing-"

"But Natsu's our friend!" Ruby cut her off, annoying the amber-eyed girl. "And…and as our friend it's our duty to help him out with whatever is hurting him, regardless of whether or not he wants us to. He'd do the same for us! So…so I don't care what you say, Blake. I want to help Natsu, and if you don't want to, then…nuts to you!" She said, sticking her tongue out at the deadpanning secret Faunus.

Blake merely shook her head at the girl's retort. So naïve. Did she honestly think she could just change how someone felt just off her feelings alone? Pff, what bull. If that was the case, then the eight year old version of her would've already started the movement when she went to her first Faunus equality rally. Instead, what she was treated to was nothing but contempt and racial slurs. The amber-eyed girl still remembered where she had been hit when a rock was suddenly thrown at her face. She could still taste the blood falling onto her tongue as it dripped downwards from her forehead. _"Get out of our town, you freaks!"_ They yelled at her, at her people. Feelings meant nothing to the world. It didn't care if you felt sad…felt alone…felt rejected. It merely laughed at you and your pain. And just when you felt like you found someone who promised to always protect you…to love you…he was just as bad as the person who threw that rock at you and called you a freak. "…Fine then. Do whatever the hell you want." She muttered, turning over in her bed and pulled the covers over her body, holing herself away once again…desperately hoping that it would be forever.

The rest of the girls looked at one another with various different expressions on their face and quickly departed to their beds wordlessly. Unknown to each of them, neither would fall asleep for some time, all simply lying wide awake as thoughts of their own pasts kept them from falling into a deep sleep. Even the JNPR teens were having their own troubles falling asleep, except for poor Jaune, whom was curled up inside his own bed, dreaming of not pissing his pants in front of everybody…only because he had forgotten his pants and was forced to give a 24-hour long presentation to Huntsmen/Huntresses and Grimm alike. As for the dragon slayer, the boy merely found a small tuft of grass to lay his head on as he stared up at the night sky, away from all the pressure the school was currently giving him. The school year hadn't even started, and yet, he was already contemplating whether to throw in the towel or not. _'Maybe this was all a mistake…maybe…maybe I should just go tell Ozpin I've had second thoughts. Heh, I'm sure Glynda would just fall hard for me leaving and I'm sure Ozpin wouldn't so much as bat an eyelash. What was I thinking? Coming to this school…what did I think was gonna happen? That everything would suddenly set into place and be hunky dory? That not a single soul would ask me about my past? Fuck, I'm such an idiot. Should've just stayed back in Patch and lived a normal life. Maybe…m-maybe…'_

"Such a beautiful night for a stroll, isn't it, Mr. Dragneel?" A voice caught his attention, forcing Natsu out of his thoughts and to turn around to see-

"O-Ozpin?" He said, bewildered to see the headmaster of the school out and about so late in the night.

The headmaster smiled down at the boy, wearing a long green robe around his body, and strangely enough still carrying around a mug. "Do you mind if I take a seat near you?"

The boy merely shrugged. "It's a free country…I think." The teen said, getting a chuckle from the older man as he sat down next to the boy.

"Haha, yes I suppose it technically would be, if not for the bloodthirsty monsters that caused death and destruction, regardless of the consequences. Oh, and the Grimm too of course." Ozpin chuckled to himself, also getting a laugh from the salmon-haired teen as well.

"Hahahaha! Wow, never pegged you for a cynic. I should introduce you to Blake. I'm sure you'd both find some common ground somewhere in those mocking brains of yours." Natsu grinned, shaking his head at the concept at Blake and Ozpin forming a somewhat healthy friendship that was derived from holding a disparaging view of how the world worked.

Ozpin, however, shook his head. "I'm no cynic. Quite the opposite really. I'm a realist. I understand that humankind isn't as perfect as we'd all like ourselves to believe. Just ask any Faunus and they'll tell you." The aged man shook his head once again as he sipped from his mug of…whatever was in there. "Regardless of whether you're a Faunus or a human though, the real threat is out there. Waiting for us to slip up, if even for a moment, and then…well, I'm sure you've seen what the Grimm can do I'm sure." He said, staring at the boy, somewhat intently as if he was studying him for any sort of reaction, making the boy uncomfortable.

"…Well I mean, who hasn't?" Natsu shrugged, staring back at the headmaster, neither giving an inch in their stare-down.

It felt like forever before the aged headmaster dropped his stare and replaced it with his usual friendly smile. "Yes, I suppose we all have." He nodded, choosing to turn his head to look at the sky above them. "It's a beautiful night, isn't it?" Ozpin asked, asking the same question he had first asked the boy before taking a seat next to him.

The dragon slayer continued staring at the strange man sitting next to him. What was his deal? Why did he come out here? Was he watching him? Had he always been watching him? And if so…why? "Yeah…it's really beautiful."

Ozpin closed his eyes with a nod. "Yes. It would truly be a shame if these happy, peaceful nights would come to an end to only be replaced with more darkness, wouldn't you agree?"

"…Yes." Natsu agreed, understanding just what the headmaster was hinting at.

"Good." Ozpin nodded, letting out a yawn before standing back up. "If you'll excuse me, Mr. Dragneel, I believe it's time that each of us departs back to our room." He smiled down at the boy, getting a soft chuckle from the dragon slayer as a response.

"Yeah, yeah. Message received." The fire mage waved him off while picking himself up off of the ground.

"Well then, my work here is done. Pleasant dreams, Mr. Dragneel, and I look forward to seeing you and your friends improve in the coming years at this institution." The aged man said, giving the boy a nod before walking off. Before the boy could depart himself however, "And if you ever need someone to talk to…about anything, my door is always open to my students." He said, continuing his trek towards his own bedroom.

Natsu watched as the headmaster walked away, a small smile stretching across his lips. _'Right then…heh…he almost me reminded me of…'_ He stopped himself. This had to stop. Blake was right…the past was the past. Nothing could change it. All anybody could do would just be to move forward, and prevent the same mistakes from happening twice. That was all he could do. The dragon slayer took one last look at the night sky; the stars shining brightly with not one cloud blocking one from radiating it's glow. Seeing that, Natsu closed his fist intently as he took a deep breath pushing himself down to the ground and continuing his training from the night prior. He couldn't give up. Not when he had people counting on him. After all, he had promised his friends that he would use his power to protect…and that included them. Regardless of whether how much he knew them, Natsu still felt like it was his duty to protect them. To keep them all shining amongst the darkness that threatened them, and in order to do that, the boy had to train. Train harder than he ever had. That way…

…that way he'd never lose anyone he loved again.

 **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDD THAT'S A WRAP! FINALLY! Holy hell! Did I take forever or what?! Hahahaha, shit, seriously, I'm sorry to all the people that kept hounding me and asking me just when the next chapter was gonna be out. It took me damn near almost a full year, but its back baby! Shit just tends to pile up on me, plus with all my other stories, I tend to have trouble deciding how much time I should put into each story. I mean, sometimes I just get a surge of inspiration to write something and I just completely throw all my other stories to the wayside. And I ask you forgiveness for that, as well as thank you for all the support and patience.**

 **Speaking of inspiration, I've been reading a CRAP TON of comics, specifically Marvel (and no, it's not because I'm a Marvel fanboy, but because there are more deals for those specific comics on Comixology than DC.). So, I've begun a new story titled, The Meta Dragon of Marvel. Starring, Natsu (obviously!), Deadpool (also obviously. He's the most meta of all the Marvel heroes…even though he isn't really one, but he's working on it!), Spider-Man (c'mon, he's the best! How could he not be in my story!), and many more! So, I ask you to PLEASE check it out because it would mean the world to me, and if you like it, then I would also appreciate a favorite, follow, and a REVIEW!**

 **As for this story though, I'm sure most of you have noted my…well weird sense of humor for the characters and how they can say or do some…well crass things. But hey, they're teenager. Not just that, but teenagers who are also putting their lives on the line almost every day to fight dangerous creatures that could kill them! So, I could naturally see them (I.E. Natsu, Yang, Ruby, Nora, Sun, Neptune, and other people like them) having not a lot of reservations towards saying or doing those…well crass things. Obviously though, I'm not gonna have Pyrrha or Weiss start cussing people out and saying vulgar things, but in the rare occasion that I do, I promise it won't be as excessive as say Natsu or Nora.**

 **Also, you can also see that Natsu isn't the only one holding back secrets of the past. As watchers of RWBY, I'm sure we know what's troubling them (aside from Natsu…ONLY I KNOW!...but you will too, don't worry! …unless you've already figured out, or at least think you have…if so, DAMN YOU! But if not…HAHAHAHAHAHA!), but it'll be some time before they really divulge anything, you know? Like Blake won't really get into that with the team until she runs away in like episode 10 I think it was in season 1. As for Nora and Ren, probably not gonna be till volume 4, but I'll still hint at their past. However, Yang will be sooner than those two though because I've got a little plan on slightly changing something that happened in her past. Be prepared for that! ;)**

 **ALSO! Before I forget, I want to thank MCRasengan for helping me out with some names for Natsu in JNPR (which would be NRVNA; N for Natsu, R for Ren, V for Valkyrie, N for Nikos, and A for Arc). BTW, Love that band and I'm gonna have to make a joke about that soon enough. ALSO, he helped me with Ruby's team name which would be RYNBW (R for Ruby, Y for Yang, N for Natsu, B for Blake, and W for Weiss). So, many THANKS to you MCRasengan!**

 **Anyways, if you liked this chapter than please leave a favorite, follow, and a REVIEW!**


End file.
